New Executive Order released:Executive Branch Responsibilities with Respect to Orders of Succession

[redirish28]

Maybe it is me but it is kind of freaky this is released today.


By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the Federal Government to ensure that each executive branch agency can perform its essential functions and remain an effectively functioning part of the Federal Government under all conditions. Accordingly, each agency shall take all appropriate actions to establish, maintain, and, as necessary, revise an order of succession, or to propose presidential action to establish or revise an order of succession.

Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this order:

(a) "agency" means:

(i) an executive agency as defined in section 105 of title 5, United States Code, other than the Government Accountability Office; and

(ii) the United States Postal Service and the Postal Regulatory Commission; and

(b) "order of succession" means a list of officials by position who shall act as and perform the functions and duties of the office of the head of the agency in the event that the office-holder has died, resigned, or otherwise become unable to perform the functions and duties of the office. "Order of succession" does not include any order, rule, memorandum, or other document delegating or partially delegating the authority of an office.

Sec. 3. Orders of Succession Requiring Presidential Action.

(a) Each agency for which presidential action is required to establish an order of succession shall draft a proposed order of succession if no such order exists and, not later than 30 days from the date of this order, send such proposed draft order to the Counsel to the President for review and comment.

(b) Each agency described in subsection 3(a) of this order shall send any proposed updates or revisions to the agency's order of succession to the Counsel to the President for review and comment.

(c) Upon completion of the requirements set forth by subsections (a) or (b) of this section with respect to a proposed order, the agency shall submit the proposed order to the Office of Management and Budget in accordance with Executive Order 11030, as amended.

Sec. 4. Orders of Succession Not Requiring Presidential Action. (a) Each agency for which presidential action is not required to establish an order of succession because of the agency's existing legal authority shall establish and maintain such order in accordance with applicable law and any applicable guidance issued by the President or the Secretary of Homeland Security, including the laws and guidance regarding continuity plans and programs for the executive branch.

(b) Each agency described in subsection 4(a) of this order shall update and revise its order of succession as necessary. Before implementing any revisions to its order of succession, such agency shall send the proposed revisions to the Counsel to the President for review and comment.

(c) Not later than 30 days from the date of this order, and not later than 7 days from the issuance date of any subsequent final revision to an existing order of succession, each agency described in subsection 4(a) of this order shall provide a copy of its order of succession to the Counsel to the President, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) authority granted by law to a department, agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budget, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to delegate the President's authority under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., to designate individuals to perform the functions and duties of a vacant office temporarily in an acting capacity.

(c) This order shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(d) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by any party against the United States, its agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

September 11, 2008.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080911-4.html

Hope I posted this correctly.

[musette_sf]

1. K&R

creepy and worthy of notice
:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. The timing of this directive is suspicious right before the election

Like its for a disaster or something.

[cui bono]

4. and on 9/11, where it is sure to go unnoticed by the corporate media

otoh, it would have gone unnoticed by them no matter when it was released.

[annabanana]

3. It is too late at night for me to start to figure what purpose he'd

have in requesting something like this...

Exactly which agencies would be affected? I have to assume that they would only be national security or agencies with emergency duties...

What couldn't wait for a new hire?

[mmonk]

5. With people working on total dictatorship or fascism,

I'm sure there is a purpose.

[crickets]

6. What, is a sudden massive purge in the offing?

Every time I wonder how freaky and creepy he can get, Bush leapfrogs right over my worst expectations. It this a mind game or is he about to pull a fast one or what? Yikes.

[progressoid]

7. OK DU lawyers. Sort this one out for us tired proles.

[low_phreaq]

8. "to the Counsel to the President for review and comment"

I am not a lawyer, but this is what jumps out at me. Anybody who knows for certain anything different, please feel free to jump in and correct me.

From a brief search, it seems the most recent official guidance on orders of succession comes from Annex D of FEMA Federal Preparedness Circular (FPC) 65, as revised June 15, 2004:

http://www.fema.gov/txt/library/fpc65_0604.txt

ANNEX D – ORDERS OF SUCCESSION

Agencies are responsible for establishing, promulgating, and maintaining orders of
succession to key positions. Succession to office is critical in the event agency leadership
is debilitated or incapable of performing their legal authorized duties, roles, and
responsibilities. Orders of succession allow for an orderly, and pre-defined, transition of
leadership within the organization. Orders of succession are an essential part of an
agency's COOP plan and should be of sufficient depth to ensure the agency is able to
perform its essential functions while remaining a viable part of the Federal government
through any emergency.

As a minimum, orders of succession must:

1. Establish an order of succession to the position of agency head. A designated
official serves as acting head of the agency until appointed by the President or
otherwise relieved.

a. Geographical dispersion, including regional, field, or satellite
leadership in the standard agency line of succession is encouraged and
ensures roles and responsibilities can transfer in all contingencies.

b. Where a suitable field structure exists, appropriate personnel located
outside the subject region should be considered in the order of
succession.

2. Establish orders of succession to other key agency leadership positions.

a. Establish an order of succession to the position of Regional Director or
equivalent.

b. Establish an order of succession to the position of Field Office
Director or equivalent.

c. Establish an order of succession to the position of Satellite Office
Director or equivalent, etc.

d. Establish orders of succession to other agency leadership as necessary.

3. To the extent possible, describe orders of succession by positions or titles,
rather than names of individuals. Consider coordinating Orders of Succession
with General Counsel for legal sufficiency.

4. Establish the rules and procedures designated officials must follow when
facing the issue of succession to office.

5. Include in succession procedures the conditions under which succession will
take place; method of notification; and, any temporal, geographical, or
organizational limitations of authorities.

6. Include orders of succession in the vital records of the agency and ensure they
are available at the alternate facility in the event of COOP activation.

7. Revise orders of succession as necessary, and distribute revised versions
promptly as changes occur. Designate responsibility for updating and
promulgating orders of succession.

8. Provide briefings to designated successors to the position of agency head,
when named, on their responsibilities as successors and on any provisions for
their relocation. Designated successors must be provided annual refresher
briefings.

The following table can assist agencies in developing their organizational succession
plan.

Table D-1: Succession Plan


Official (Title)
Designated Successors
(Title)
Conditions
Program
Responsibility

So, what may have changed with today's executive order? It looks like agencies must now submit their draft orders of succession, including any updates or revisions, "to the Counsel to the President for review and comment." I don't know if that was the case before today. Looks like somebody might want to make sure the "right" people are in charge if something bad happens.

Also, I have not looked to see if there is a list of which agencies fall under Section 3 and which fall under Section 4.

[low_phreaq]

9. Something else I found

http://devilinthedetails.org/would-bush-administration-bypass-constitutional-order-of-succession

July 16th, 2008

Would Bush Administration bypass Constitutional Order of Succession?

The new book by Jane Mayer (writer for the New Yorker called The Dark Side asserts that President Reagan issued a secret executive order sometime in the 1980's that "established a means of re-creating the executive branch" that violates the accepted (and legal) order of succession. Bruce Ackerman asks a pertinent question in a recent article on Slate.com, Does the Bush Administration have a similar executive order in place?

<snip>

President Bush II has issued 278 executive orders since 2001 (not to mention hundreds of "signing statements"), 17 of those executive orders have defined orders of succession in the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security and many others. Is it possible that there is a "secret executive order" for the Executive Branch, and if so, does it hold any weight?

[low_phreaq]

10. And let us not forget the venerable NSPD 51/HSPD-20

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html

May 9, 2007
National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive
NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/NSPD 51
HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/HSPD-20

Basically, this says if there is a "catastrophic emergency" the President gets to be in charge of the whole federal government.

"(e) "Enduring Constitutional Government," or "ECG," means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity* with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency;"

also,
"(6) The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government."

* I had to look up the word "comity", and for a good explanation of these weasel words, see here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2176185/pagenum/all/#page_start

"Do you see those five weasel words "as a matter of comity"? Just what elements of the legislative and judicial branches will be allowed to participate in "executing constitutional responsibilities" and "providing for orderly succession appropriate transfer of leadership"?

In other words, who gets to call the shots? What does comity mean in this context? Informally, it means good-natured, good-faith camaraderie. In its jurisprudential sense, the American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "the principle by which the courts of one jurisdiction may accede or give effect to the laws or decisions of another."

In other words, in the weasel-speak of NSPD-51, it implies that one or more branches of the government will have to cede power to another. And since everything is to be "coordinated by the president," I'm guessing that the members of the Supreme Court left alive and some congressional leaders left alive (How chosen? What party balance?) will in effect have to sit around a big conference table and do a lot of "ceding" to the executive."

[avaistheone1]

11. This seems like an omen to me that Bush/Cheney are working on

something to blow up the world, or to create an event that will take away more of our remaining civil liberties here at home. Just speculating...

[flamingdem]

12. Look I don't want no President who winks when talking about Israel and nukes OKKKAAAY?

[Cleita]

13. Could this be a fail safe plan if impeachment does crawl back on the table? n/t

[low_phreaq]

14. Well, let's see here, 30 days from 9/11 is 10/11...

Yup, plenty of time to make sure the right people are in order before an October Surprise!

[Imagevision]

15. Bush Seeks Immunity for Violating War Crimes Act

Thirty-two years ago, President Gerald Ford created a political firestorm by pardoning former President Richard Nixon of all crimes he may have committed in Watergate -- and lost his election as a result. Now, President Bush, to avoid a similar public outcry, is quietly trying to pardon himself of any crimes connected with the torture and mistreatment of U.S. detainees.

The ''pardon'' is buried in Bush's proposed legislation to create a new kind of military tribunal for cases involving top al-Qaida operatives. The ''pardon'' provision has nothing to do with the tribunals. Instead, it guts the War Crimes Act of 1996, a federal law that makes it a crime, in some cases punishable by death, to mistreat detainees in violation of the Geneva Conventions and makes the new, weaker terms of the War Crimes Act retroactive to 9/11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHQ7Prwh7Gc

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x86328

[McCamy Taylor]

16. The WH is implying they plan to blow up DC after Oct 11. Probably meant to be a

distraction from any real October Surprise, since it would be very foolish of them to send out a smoking gun like this. I mean, if they really let a "terrorist" attack and take out a branch of gov't on 10-12, after this went out, it would look very suspicious.

I think this is like the bacteria which they placed in the mall in DC during the peace rallies in Sept. 2005. That was psy-ops rather than real germ warfare. They wanted to scare people so that they would be afraid to stage similar protests.

Bush-Rove-Cheney are probably hoping to scare Democrats in Congress and worry their political opponents. Rove in particular likes to play a Rasputin game in which he makes himself all s-c-a-r-y and powerful and threatening.

Unless a lawyer finds something hidden in here that is illegal or really irregular, I am not going to worry.