10 U.S.C. § 906
Section 906 · Art. 106. Spies
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 17 court decisions — leading case Furman v. Georgia (1972)
Most recently applied in United States v. Gilbreath (December 2014)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) In General.—Any person subject to this chapter who, wrongfully and willfully, impersonates—
(1) an officer, a noncommissioned officer, or a petty officer;
(2) an agent of superior authority of one of the armed forces; or
(3) an official of a government;
shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
(b) Impersonation With Intent to Defraud.—Any person subject to this chapter who, wrongfully, willfully, and with intent to defraud, impersonates any person referred to in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subsection (a) shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
(c) Impersonation of Government Official Without Intent to Defraud.—Any person subject to this chapter who, wrongfully, willfully, and without intent to defraud, impersonates an official of a government by committing an act that exercises or asserts the authority of the office that the person claims to have shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 906 was renumbered section 903 of this title.
Effective Date
Section effective on Jan. 1, 2019, as designated by the President, with implementing regulations and provisions relating to applicability to various situations, see section 5542 of Pub. L. 114–328 and Ex. Ord. No. 13825, set out as notes under section 801 of this title.