§ 2249b. Display of State, District of Columbia, commonwealth, and territorial flags by the armed forces

(a)Display of Flags by Armed Forces.— The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that, whenever the official flags of all 50 States are displayed by the armed forces, such display shall include the flags of the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

(b)Position and Manner of Display.— The display of an official flag of a State, territory, or possession of the United States at an installation or other facility of the Department shall be governed by section 7 of title 4 and any modification of section 7 under section 10 of title 4.

(Added Pub. L. 104–201, div. A, title X, § 1071(a), Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2656; amended Pub. L. 105–225, § 4(a)(1), Aug. 12, 1998, 112 Stat. 1498; Pub. L. 112–239, div. A, title V, § 588(a), (b)(1), Jan. 2, 2013, 126 Stat. 1768, 1769.)

Amendments

Amendments

2013—Pub. L. 112–239, § 588(b)(1), substituted “Display of State, District of Columbia, commonwealth, and territorial flags by the armed forces” for “Display of State flags: prohibition on use of funds to arbitrarily exclude flag; position and manner of display” in section catchline.

Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 112–239, § 588(a), amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “Funds available to the Department of Defense may not be used to prescribe or enforce any rule that arbitrarily excludes the official flag of any State, territory, or possession of the United States from any display of the flags of the States, territories, and possessions of the United States at an official ceremony of the Department of Defense.”

1998—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 105–225 substituted “section 7 of title 4 and any modification of section 7 under section 10 of title 4” for “the provisions of section 3 of the Joint Resolution of June 22, 1942 (56 Stat. 378, chapter 435; 36 U.S.C. 175), and any modification of such provisions under section 8 of that Joint Resolution (36 U.S.C. 178)”.