(a) A copy of the decisional document prepared in accordance with § 865.114 of this subpart, shall be made available for public inspection and copying promptly after a notice of final decision is sent to the applicant.

(b) To the extent required to prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, identifying details of the applicant and other persons will be deleted from documents made available for public inspection and copying. Names, addresses, social security numbers, and military service numbers must be deleted. Written justification shall be made for all other deletions and shall be available for public inspection.

(c) The DRB shall ensure that there is a means for relating a decisional document number to the name of the applicant to permit retrieval of the applicant's records when required in processing a complaint in accordance with § 865.121 of this subpart.

(d) Any other privileged or classified material contained in or appended to any documents required to be furnished the applicant and counsel/representative or made available for public inspection and copying may be deleted therefrom only if a written statement of the basis for the deletions is provided the applicant and counsel/representative and made available for public inspection. It is not intended that the statement be so detailed as to reveal the nature of the withheld material.

(e) DRB documents made available for public inspection and copying shall be located in the Armed Forces Discharge Review/Correction Boards Reading Room. The documents shall be indexed in usable and concise form so as to enable the public and those who represent applicants before the DRB to isolate from all these decisions that are indexed those cases that may be similar to an applicant's case and that indicate the circumstances under and/or reasons for which the DRB or the Secretary of the Air Force granted or denied relief.

(1) The reading file index shall include, in addition to any other items determined by the DRB, the case number, the date, character of, reason for, and authority for the discharge. It shall further include the decisions of the DRB and reviewing authority, if any, and the issues addressed in the statement of findings, conclusions and reasons.

(2) The index shall be maintained at selected permanent locations throughout the United States. This ensures reasonable availability to applicants at least 30 days before a regional board review. The index shall also be made available at sites selected for regional Boards for such periods as the DRB is present and in operation. An applicant who has requested a regional board review shall be advised in the notice of scheduled hearings.

(3) The Armed Forces Discharge Review/Correction Board Reading Room shall publish indexes quarterly for the DRB. The DRB shall be responsible for timely submission to the Reading Room of individual case information required for update of indexes. These indexes shall be available for public inspection or purchase (or both) at the Reading Room. This information will be provided to applicants in the notice of acceptance of the application.

(4) Correspondence relating to matters under the cognizance of the Reading Room (including request for purchase of indexes) shall be addressed to: