US · guidance
Justice Manual § 9-21.220
Emergency Authorization
Protection of a witness for whom relocation is being requested remains the responsibility of the sponsoring investigative agency until such time as (1) OEO has reviewed the application and all other relevant information (including the results of the psychological examination), (2) the OEO Director has approved admission of the witness into the Witness Security Program, and (3) the USMS has had the opportunity to arrange the safe removal of the witness and his/her family.
If it is determined that a witness is in imminent danger of harm and the investigative agency is not able to provide the necessary protection, emergency Program protection may be authorized by OEO and provided by the USMS before completion of the written risk assessment and all parties have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding. However, before this emergency protection can occur, the USMS must first conduct a preliminary interview (see JM 9-21.300) to ensure that there are no obstacles to temporary relocation. The assessment and Memorandum of Understanding must be completed as soon as practicable following the authorization for emergency protection.
Provenance
- Source
- justice.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-20
- Edition
- jm-2026-09-20
- Content hash
1ecda9e6bf7e09184db3db0ba9beeea1e22b3c96a904161cbf8a48a9e122649c
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.