UCMJ Article 131g: Wrongful Interference with an Adverse Administrative Proceeding

Article 131g extends obstruction-of-justice protection to administrative actions against service members, such as discharge, reduction in grade, loss of a security clearance, or a bar to reenlistment. It punishes a wrongful act done to influence, impede, or obstruct such a proceeding, or otherwise to obstruct the due administration of justice, when the accused has reason to believe the proceeding is or will be pending. The maximum is a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and 5 years.

Obstruction carried over to administrative actions

Under 10 U.S.C. § 931g, a person subject to the UCMJ who, “having reason to believe that an adverse administrative proceeding is pending against any person subject to this chapter, wrongfully acts with the intent”:

“to influence, impede, or obstruct the conduct of the proceeding”; or
“otherwise to obstruct the due administration of justice.”

A wrongful act, a reason to believe, and intent

The Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 88.b:

the accused wrongfully did a certain act;
the accused did so in the case of a certain person against whom the accused had reason to believe “there was or would be” an adverse administrative proceeding pending; and
the act was done with intent to influence, impede, or obstruct the proceeding, or otherwise obstruct the due administration of justice.

The element’s wording, “was or would be,” means the proceeding does not have to have started yet.

Which proceedings count

An adverse administrative proceeding “includes any administrative proceeding or action, initiated against a Servicemember, that could lead to” any of these (¶ 88.c):

discharge;
loss of special or incentive pay;
administrative reduction in grade;
loss of a security clearance;
bar to reenlistment; or
reclassification.

Examples the Manual gives

Under ¶ 88.c, wrongful interference includes:

wrongfully influencing, intimidating, impeding, or injuring a witness, an investigator, or another person acting on the adverse administrative action;
delaying or preventing communication of information about the proceeding by bribery, intimidation, misrepresentation, or force or threat of force; and
wrongfully destroying or concealing information relevant to the proceeding.

These examples parallel the Manual’s list for obstruction of justice in criminal cases (¶ 83.c), applied to administrative actions. In each, the act must be wrongful and done with the required intent.

The same 5-year ceiling as criminal obstruction

Under ¶ 88.d, the maximum is a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 5 years.

When the matter is a criminal case rather than an administrative one, the parallel offense is obstructing justice under Article 131b. Offering a thing of value to an official to influence an official decision is bribery under Article 124a. Wrongfully taking or threatening an adverse personnel action, with intent to retaliate against someone for reporting a criminal offense or making a protected communication, is retaliation under Article 132.

Sources

10 U.S.C. § 931g, Article 131g, Wrongful interference with adverse administrative proceeding (Cornell LII)
Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 88

General information about military law, not legal advice for any individual case.