§ 9901.712 - Mandatory removal offenses.

(a) The Secretary has the sole, exclusive, and unreviewable discretion to identify offenses that have a direct and substantial adverse impact on the Department's national security mission. Such offenses will be identified in advance in implementing issuances, publicized upon establishment via notice in the Federal Register, and made known to all employees on a periodic basis, as appropriate, through means determined by the Secretary.

(b) The procedures in §§ 9901.713 through 9901.716 apply to actions taken under this section. However, a proposed notice required by § 9901.714 may be issued to the employee in question only after the Secretary's review and approval.

(c) The Secretary has the sole, exclusive, and unreviewable discretion to mitigate the removal penalty on his or her own initiative or at the request of the employee in question.

(d) Nothing in this section limits the discretion of the Secretary to remove employees for offenses other than those identified by the Secretary as an MRO.