A newly published U.S. Army regulation says a service member can be referred to as a "Negro" when describing "black or African American" personnel. The Army confirmed the language is contained in the October 22 "Army Command Policy," known as regulation AR 600-20. The regulation is periodically updated but the Army could not say how recently the word was added to the document.

In a lengthy section of the document describing "race and ethnic code definitions," the regulation states under the category "Black or African American" that would include, "A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as "Haitian" or "Negro" can be used in addition to "Black" or "African American".