§ Article 101 : Improper Use of Countersign

Article 101 of the UCMJ (10 U.S.C. § 901) punishes, in time of war, disclosing a parole or countersign to a person not entitled to receive it, or giving an entitled person a different parole or countersign than the one the accused was authorized and required to give.

Who It Applies To

Any person subject to the UCMJ who, in time of war, discloses the parole or countersign to a person not entitled to receive it, or who gives a person entitled to receive and use the parole or countersign a different one from that which, to the accused’s knowledge, the accused was authorized and required to give.

What It Covers

Disclosing the parole or countersign to a person not entitled to receive it

1. In time of war, the accused disclosed the parole or countersign to a person, identified or unidentified.
2. That person was not entitled to receive it.

Giving a parole or countersign different from that authorized

1. In time of war, the accused knew that the accused was authorized and required to give a certain parole or countersign.
2. The accused gave a person entitled to receive and use it a different parole or countersign.

Key rules

• A countersign is a word, signal, or procedure issued from the principal headquarters of a command to help guards and sentinels screen people who seek to pass the lines; it consists of a secret challenge and a password, signal, or procedure. A parole is a word used as a check on the countersign, given only to those entitled to inspect guards and to commanders of guards.
• Before disclosing a parole or countersign, a person must determine at their own peril that the recipient is authorized to receive it. It is not a defense that the accused did not know the recipient was not entitled to it.
• The accused’s intent or motive is immaterial, and so is the fact that the disclosure was negligent or inadvertent.
• It does not matter how the accused obtained the parole or countersign.

Maximum Punishment

Maximum authorized punishment. Death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.

Sentencing parameters. Article 101 is a sentencing-criteria offense (no numbered category). Sentencing parameters and criteria do not apply to the decision whether to impose death.

The newer sentencing rules apply, subject to the capital-case rules, when the accused is convicted only of offenses committed after 27 December 2023. See How UCMJ Sentencing Rules Apply. The maximum authorized punishment and the applicable sentencing framework do not predict the sentence in a particular case.

Related and Distinguished

Article 101 applies only in time of war and only to the parole and countersign system. Article 95 addresses a sentinel’s or lookout’s own misconduct on post, and Article 103b addresses giving intelligence to or communicating with the enemy.

What the Provision Does

Article 101 applies only in time of war and only to paroles and countersigns. It covers two forms of misuse — disclosing a parole or countersign to a person not entitled to receive it, and giving an entitled person a different one than the accused was authorized and required to give — and authorizes death for either.

History

Article 101 appeared in the original 1950 Uniform Code of Military Justice and was codified at 10 U.S.C. § 901 in 1956. Its text has not been amended since.

Sources

• 10 U.S.C. § 901 (Article 101, UCMJ)
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 2024 edition, Part IV, ¶ 29
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Appendix 12B and Appendix 12C
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Appendix 12D