If the Secretary determines that a person recommended by a promotion board for promotion to a grade at or below the grade of rear admiral is the subject of credible information of an adverse nature, including any substantiated adverse finding or conclusion described in section 2115(a)(3) of this title that was not furnished to the promotion board during its consideration of the person for promotion as otherwise required by such section, the Secretary shall convene a special selection review board under this section to review the person and recommend whether the recommendation for promotion of the person should be sustained.

Any special selection review board convened under this section shall be convened in accordance with the provisions of section 2120(c) of this title.

Any special selection review board convened under this section may review such number of persons, and recommendations for promotion of such persons, as the Secretary shall specify in convening such special selection review board.

The furnishing of information to a special selection review board under paragraph (1)(B) shall be governed by the standards and procedures referred to in section 2115 of this title.

In considering the record and information on a person under this section, the special selection review board shall compare such record and information with an appropriate sampling of the records of those officers who were recommended for promotion by the promotion board that recommended the person for promotion, and an appropriate sampling of the records of those officers who were considered by and not recommended for promotion by that promotion board.

Records and information shall be presented to a special selection review board for purposes of paragraph (1) in a manner that does not indicate or disclose the person or persons for whom the special selection review board was convened.

In considering whether the recommendation for promotion of a person should be sustained under this section, a special selection review board shall, to the greatest extent practicable, apply standards used by the promotion board that recommended the person for promotion.

A recommendation for promotion of a person may be sustained under this section only by a vote of a majority of the members of the special selection review board.

If a special selection review board does not sustain a recommendation for promotion of a person under this section, the person shall be considered to have failed of selection for promotion.

Each special selection review board convened under this section shall submit to the Secretary a written report, signed by each member of the board, containing the name of each person whose recommendation for promotion it recommends for sustainment and certifying that the board has carefully considered the record and information of each person whose name was referred to it.

The provisions of sections 2117(a) of this title apply to the report and proceedings of a special selection review board convened under this section in the same manner as they apply to the report and proceedings of a promotion board convened under section 2106 of this title.

If the report of a special selection review board convened under this section recommends the sustainment of the recommendation for promotion to the next higher grade of a person whose name was referred to it for review under this section, and the President approves the report, the person shall, as soon as practicable, be appointed to that grade in accordance with section 2121 of this title.

A person who is appointed to the next higher grade as described in paragraph (1) shall, upon that appointment, have the same date of rank, the same effective date for the pay and allowances of that grade, and the same position on the active-duty list as the person would have had pursuant to the original recommendation for promotion of the promotion board concerned.