I am attaching the template to use for information memo use HQDA 25-52 pg 47 for the information template to follow in the template attached talking about the facts

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*This policy notice supersedes DA Memo 25–52, dated 1 May 2008.

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*HQDA Policy Notice 25 – 52

Headquarters Department of the Army Washington, DC 4 October 2021

Information Management: Records Management

Staff Action Process and Correspondence Policies

Applicability. This policy notice applies to Headquarters, Department of the Army, its field operating agencies and support agencies, and any Army element when responding to official taskings or corresponding with or preparing cor- respondence for the Secretary of the Army, Chief of Staff of the Army, Under Secretary of the Army, and Vice Chief of Staff of the Army. Proponent and exception authority. The proponent of this policy notice is the Administrative Assistant to the Sec- retary of the Army. The proponent has the authority to approve exceptions or waivers to this policy notice that are consistent with controlling laws and regulations. The Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army may dele- gate this approval authority, in writing, to a division chief within the proponent agency, field operating agency, or specified direct reporting unit of the proponent agency in the grade of colonel or the civilian equivalent. Activities may request a waiver to this policy notice by providing justification that includes a full analysis of the expected benefits and a formal review by the activity’s senior legal advisor. All waiver requests will be endorsed by the commander or senior leader of the requesting activity and forwarded through their higher headquarters to the proponent. Refer to AR 25 – 30 for specific guidance.

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Purpose …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1 2 References and forms …………………………………………………………………………………………. 2 2 Explanation of abbreviations and terms ………………………………………………………………… 3 2 Responsibilities …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 2 Policy ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5 4 Suspense date ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6 7 Tracking actions ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7 8 Handling of Red Top taskings ……………………………………………………………………………… 8 9 Department of Defense Directives Program …………………………………………………………… 9 11 Processing of White House actions ………………………………………………………………………. 10 11 Correspondence policies ……………………………………………………………………………………… 11 12 Letters and memorandums …………………………………………………………………………………… 12 14 Letterhead and stationery ……………………………………………………………………………………. 13 37 Information and discussion papers ……………………………………………………………………….. 14 46 Headquarters, Department of the Army Enterprise Task Management Software Solution – Senior Leader Approval Page ………………………………………………………………………………. 15 51 Assembly of hardcopy staff actions and correspondence …………………………………………. 16 51 Distribution of signed documents to Headquarters, Department of the Army principal of- ficials, Army commands, Army service component commands, and direct reporting units ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 17 51 All Army Activities and sends messages ……………………………………………………………….. 18 52 Format and scheduling of briefings ………………………………………………………………………. 19 52 Read-aheads ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 20 52

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Executive summary ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 21 52 Talking points paper …………………………………………………………………………………………… 22 55 Headquarters, Department of the Army rollout plan and conditions check …………………. 23 57 Appendix A ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 58 Glossary ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 60

1. Purpose This document supplements AR 25 – 50 and provides Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA), its field operat- ing agencies (FOAs) and support agencies, and any Army element’s staff action officers with guidance for preparing, coordinating, and submitting correspondence to the Secretary of the Army (SECARMY), Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA), Under Secretary of the Army (USA), Vice Chief of Staff of the Army (VCSA), and other staff offices and agencies within HQDA. This policy notice also provides guidance on the HQDA staff action process for staffing ac- tions, highlighting key organizations and their roles and responsibilities. 2. References and forms See appendix A. 3. Explanation of abbreviations and terms See the glossary. 4. Responsibilities

a. The Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army (AASA) will— (1) Develop policy and direction for correspondence management for HQDA. (2) Serve as the senior principal advisor to the SECARMY for administrative matters. (3) Oversee the administrative functions within HQDA. (4) Oversee the Correspondence Analysis and Processing Branch.

b. The Director of the Army Staff (DAS) has the authority to disapprove recommendations of the Army Staff (ARSTAF) agency principals in the name of the CSA. This authority is reserved for the CSA, VCSA, or DAS acting in the name of the CSA. The DAS will—

(1) Synchronize and integrate the Secretariat and ARSTAF. (2) Oversee the staff to ensure the effective integration and coordination of Army policy, positions, and proce-

dures across the functional domains of Army responsibility. (3) In concert with the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems, maintain the HQDA En-

terprise Task Management Software Solution (ETMS2) to ensure coordination of guidance among the Executive Com- munications and Control (ECC) Directorate, Office of Joint and Defense Affairs, Office of the Chief of Legislative Liaison (OCLL), and U.S. Army Audit Agency and to ensure that such guidance is available to support the staff action control process.

(4) Through the Director, ECC, process documents requiring the review and decision of the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA. The Director, ECC will—

(a) Maintain close liaison with the SECARMY, CSA, USA, and VCSA and ensure that staff actions are responsive to their requests and direction.

(b) Serve as the focal point for tracking and tasking actions directed by the SECARMY, CSA, USA, VCSA, and DAS to appropriate HQDA agencies, Army commands (ACOMs), Army service component commands (ASCCs), direct reporting units (DRUs), and FOAs through the executive officers (XOs), staff action control officers (SACOs), and secretaries of the general staff (SGSs).

(c) Provide mission analysis for the SECARMY, CSA, USA, and VCSA. (d) Ensure the ECC website (https://csa.army.pentagon.mil/ecc/sitepages/home.aspx) remains current.

HQDA Policy Notice 25–52

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(e) Expedite inquiries, executive summaries (EXSUMs), information papers, and decision papers. Relay in- structions and information to the HQDA staff agencies, ACOMs, ASCCs, DRUs, and FOAs (through their respective HQDA staff agencies) on behalf of the SECARMY, CSA, USA, and VCSA.

(f) Ensure that responses to the taskers are complete (properly formatted, properly assembled, and appropri- ately coordinated). Coordination will include the names, positions, and offices with which coordination was made.

(g) Provide a functional officer to coordinate meetings and briefings, as directed by the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA. The functional officer will take the following actions:

1. Collect taskings from the meetings and briefings and dispatch them on approval of the summary with the XOs for the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA.

2. Task the appropriate lead HQDA staff agency, ACOM, ASCC, or DRU (through their respective HQDA staff agencies) to provide HQDA Form 11 (Army Senior Leader Calendar Request) for coordination and sched- uling with the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA. Send the official electronic meeting announcement if the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA dictates a specific date or time.

3. Create an official seating chart. (h) Task the staffing of Department of Defense (DoD) issuances to HQDA principal officials based on their

areas of responsibility. (i) Ensure the proper administrative processing of HQDA responses to draft DoD issuances. (j) In accordance with DoDI 5025.01, designate primary and alternate issuance focal points to interface with

Director, Administration and Management for DoD issuances. c. Officials listed below are part of the Office of the SECARMY, and they, as well as the ARSTAF, may act for the

SECARMY in their respective functional areas as authorized by Department of the Army (DA) general orders and further directed by the SECARMY:

(1) USA. (2) Assistant Secretaries of the Army. (3) General Counsel of the Army. (4) Deputy USA. (5) AASA. (6) Chief Information Officer. (7) The Inspector General. (8) The Army Auditor General. (9) Chief of Legislative Liaison. (10) Director of Small Business Programs. (11) Chief of Public Affairs.

d. Staff agencies (office of primary responsibility) are responsible for conducting mission analysis as well as creat- ing, coordinating, preparing, and approving final staff action packets submitted to the SECARMY, CSA, USA, VCSA, or DAS for information, action, or approval. Staff agencies will—

(1) Provide the final coordinated (internal and external) product or requirement to the SECARMY, CSA, USA, VCSA, or DAS. Final products to the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF), Deputy Secretary of Defense (DEPSECDEF), or Executive Secretary must have principal or principal deputy level coordination (internal and external).

(2) Coordinate directly with all internal and external staff agencies (office of coordinating responsibility (OCR)) to gain concurrence on the final action. Obtain principal or principal deputy coordination within ETMS2 on staff actions that require SECARMY approval. If principal or principal deputy is out of the office, the first general officer (GO) or Senior Executive Service (SES) in the chain may coordinate within ETMS2.

(3) Conduct mission analysis for all aspects of the tasker, organize tasks, and prepare a timeline for completion. Inherent to the lead role is the authority to require products from any assisting staff agency supporting the preparation of the final product.

(4) Organize, provide guidance, and execute every aspect of product preparation. (5) Prepare tasker response in ETMS2. The staff principal or principal deputy will approve the action for sub-

mission to the Army senior leadership. If principal or principal deputy is out of the office, the first GO or SES in the chain will approve within ETMS2.

(6) If the product has resource implications, ensure coordination with the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Fi- nancial Management and Comptroller) (ASA (FM&C)) or Army Budget Office.

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(7) Comply with the instructions in responding to time-sensitive correspondence from the SECARMY, CSA, USA, VCSA, DoD senior officials, Members of Congress (MOCs), and White House senior officials. If a product requires detailed analysis and explanations, provide an information paper with the product.

(8) Submit requests for an extension to the ECC point of contact (POC) no later than 48 hours from the agency’s receipt of the tasking.

(9) Organizations disagreeing with the assignment of an action will contact the ECC tasking officer via ETMS2, email, or telephone for reconsideration within 24 hours of assignment. The action officer will explain why ECC should reassign the action and provide a recommendation for reassignment.

(10) Comply with the guidance for staff actions and processes in accordance with this policy notice and ECC guidance.

(11) Complete the requirements for response to tasking for meetings and briefings with the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA as directed by this policy notice and ECC.

(12) Review the correspondence to ensure the accuracy of the response, including proper formatting and gram- mar, before delivery to ECC. Confirm the response answers the inquiry or questions from the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA. Provide a response that is concise and to the point.

(13) Package the correspondence in portfolio format in ETMS2 for approval by the appropriate principal or deputy principal official or, if not available, a designated GO or SES representative.

(14) Coordinate action with appropriate internal and external agencies as indicated in the tasking. Note the re- sults of the coordination (for example, concurrence or nonconcurrence) in ETMS2.

(15) Immediately notify ECC of any actions addressed to the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA received di- rectly from agencies outside of the Army (such as Congress, the White House, a foreign government, DoD, an Answer Secretary Note, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), DEPSECDEF, Assistant SECDEF, or another military Service).

e. The OCR agencies are responsible for providing all required assistance to the office of primary responsibility (OPR) (lead staff) agencies to complete a tasker. Provide support within the direction given by the OPR agency and coordinate in ETMS2. Complying with the provisions in this policy notice, the OCR XO, SGS, SACO, or Congres- sional Affairs Contact Office (CACO) will ensure that agency action officers respond to ECC taskings in a timely manner and that the tasker response is accurate, complete, packaged, and properly coordinated. 5. Policy

a. General. Process all HQDA, ACOM, ASCC, and DRU staff actions to the SECARMY, CSA, USA, and VCSA through ECC in the HQDA ETMS2 system, using Adobe Acrobat portfolio. Instructions for building a portfolio in Adobe Acrobat are located on the ECC’s website at https://csa.army.pentagon.mil/ecc/sitepages/ETMS2-catms.aspx.

b. Headquarters, Department of the Army Enterprise Task Management Software Solution electronic staff- ing. HQDA’s business rules for ETMS2 optimize electronic staffing. HQDA is replacing “wet” signatures with digital signatures secured via DoD Common Access Card, except for where a wet signature is required by law, regulation, or congressional tasking.

c. Staffing exceptions. (1) Actions prepared by the immediate offices, planning groups, and initiatives groups of the SECARMY, CSA,

USA, or VCSA. (2) Actions that the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA have instructed staff agencies to submit directly to their

offices, such as short-fused requests for information. (3) Actions pertaining to GOs, originating in the General Officer Management Office, and sensitive actions,

such as Inspector General or legal correspondence. Forward these actions directly to the appropriate approval authority. (4) Actions originating in the Civilian Senior Leader Management Office pertaining to executive and senior

professionals. (5) Sensitive military personnel actions, such as promotion selection boards, promotion review boards, special

selection boards, and black book assignments. (6) Joint actions that the Office of Joint and Defense Affairs (DACS – ZDV – JDA) tracks and coordinates. (7) Congressional actions OCLL or ASA (FM&C) budget liaison tracks and controls. (8) Actions pertaining to civilian personnel hiring, hiring freezes, voluntary early retirement authority, and vol-

untary separation incentive payment within HQDA. Staff agencies will forward these requests directly to the Office of the AASA.

(9) Audit actions that the Army Audit Agency tracks and controls.

HQDA Policy Notice 25–52

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(10) Actions involving major policy, budget, or reorganization proposals that have significant State and local impact.

(11) Actions of special interest. Provide to ECC for review and determination of the appropriate review by the SECARMY, CSA, USA, and VCSA.

d. Resources. Each HQDA staff agency is responsible for addressing its respective manpower, finance, and other resource implications for each action. Directly coordinate resources among HQDA, ACOM, ASCC, and DRU agencies.

e. Meetings and briefings. If tasked as the OPR agency for a SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA meeting or briefing by ECC:

(1) Provide a completed and coordinated request. The lead staff agency is responsible for coordinating with all other meeting participants from other HQDA staff agencies, ACOMs, ASCCs, and DRUs, excluding SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA participation.

(2) Provide ECC with a read-ahead in both electronic and hardcopy (cover sheet plus materials) a minimum of 2 working days before the scheduled meeting.

(3) Provide all participants in the meeting with hardcopy briefing packets. (4) Ensure the briefing is coordinated with all appropriate HQDA staff agencies, ACOMs, ASCCs, and DRUs. (5) If legal implications exist, ensure the briefing has been coordinated with the Office of the General Counsel

(OGC) for briefings to the SECARMY or USA, or the Office of The Judge Advocate General (OTJAG) for briefings to the CSA or VCSA.

(6) See the ECC website for additional information at https://csa.army.pentagon.mil/ecc/sitepages/meet- ings%20and%20briefings%20process.aspx.

f. Delegation of authority (1) Use of line-thru authority. Line-thru authority is approval authority used to limit the number of administra-

tive levels in the staffing process. Exercise line-thru authority for routine actions and actions that principal officials determine will not require review by the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA.

(a) Ensure line-thru actions clearly show the organization and position by stamp or printed annotation so that the addressee will know the routing process.

(b) The agency principal official or principal deputy must sign, line-thru, or initial correspondence to the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA and forward action to ECC for tracking and processing.

(c) The DAS may line-thru for the CSA on correspondence addressed to Assistant Secretaries of the Army and principal officials of HQDA agencies, but not on correspondence addressed to the SECARMY. Forward a copy of all line-thru actions through ECC to the DAS.

(2) Use of quotes. Use quotes from officials in the offices of the SECARMY, CSA, and OSD only if the corre- spondence is for personal review of the content and for specific use in the text.

(3) Implied personal connection of President of the United States of America. Do not refer to the President in any manner that implies a personal connection with a specific policy or official action.

(4) Use of “Army position.” Use the phrase “Army position” in oral or written communications only when the SECARMY, CSA, or individuals delegated this authority in writing by the SECARMY and CSA approve the position. Agencies that are not certain if such delegated authority exists will process the actions through ECC to the SECARMY, CSA, USA, or VCSA for review, approval, and signature. Consult ECC for specific guidance on determining the ap- propriate involvement of HQDA principal officials and the appropriate signature authority.

g. Priority White House and Office of the Secretary of Defense actions. (1) White House correspondence. Staff agencies will coordinate all written, electronic, and telephonic White

House contacts with the ECC White House Liaison Office (WHLO). (2) Office of the Secretary of Defense correspondence. Correspondence to the SECDEF or DEPSECDEF from

senior White House staff, Cabinet members, MOCs, State governors, and other correspondents will receive personal replies from the SECDEF or DEPSECDEF unless otherwise directed by OSD correspondence or directives.

(3) Congressional correspondence. Staff agencies will coordinate all correspondence to MOCs through OCLL. (4) Addressing officials in Office of the Secretary of Defense. Staff agencies will route all SECDEF and

DEPSECDEF correspondence from or to OSD through ECC for tracking and processing. When responding, use the following guidance:

(a) For responses on behalf of the SECDEF or DEPSECDEF, the standard opening is: “This is in reply to your (date) letter to Secretary (Secretary’s name) (or Deputy Secretary (Deputy Secretary’s name)) regarding…”

(b) Staff agencies will not use, “The Secretary of Defense (or Deputy Secretary of Defense) has asked that I respond to your letter,” nor a closing authority line without such instructions.

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(c) When responding to questions of authority for policies or actions of the SECDEF, staff agencies will only reference the office or position from which the authority derives, not the official occupying the office or position.

(d) Correspondence prepared for or addressed to the SECDEF or DEPSECDEF requires the use of “DoD” in accordance with DoDM 5110.04, Volume 1.

h. Priority Office of the Secretary of the Army actions. (1) ECC will assign a Secretariat, ARSTAF, ACOM, ASCC, DRU, or FOA agency as OPR for a formal action

that involves major policy or that may result in substantially increased activity for an agency. (2) The Office of the SECARMY may task an action that requires an immediate response directly to an agency.

The tasked agency will provide an information copy of the tasking to ECC. Staff agencies will route correspondence for SECARMY review through ECC. The OPR agency will prepare the final product in ETMS2, and ECC will deter- mine the proper routing at the SECARMY, CSA, USA, o

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