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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 10207 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 10207—Establishing the President's Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Tuesday, January 23, 1951
•
3 min read (505 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (505 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established in the Executive Office of the President a commission to be known as the President's Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights, which shall be composed of a Chairman, a Vice Chairman, and seven other members, all of whom shall be designated by the President. 2.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners Foreign Nations & International Entities
Inspect unabridged text ↓

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President Harry S Truman on January 23, 1951, this order concerns Establishing the President's Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights. There is hereby established in the Executive Office of the President a commission to be known as the President's Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights, which shall be composed of a Chairman, a Vice Chairman, and seven other members, all of whom shall be designated by the President. 2.

Constitutional Assessment: Scrutinized through Article II, Section 2, this action exercises the President's constitutional role as Commander in Chief. Early Framers recognized broad executive discretion in commanding military forces during conflict, provided it remains bounded by congressional declarations and respects civilian domestic courts.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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There is hereby established in the Executive Office of the President a commission to be known as the President's Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights, which shall be composed of a Chairman, a Vice Chairman, and seven other members, all of whom shall be designated by the President. 2.

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The Commission shall make a thorough study of the problem of providing for the internal security of the United States and at the same time protecting the rights and freedoms of individuals.

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The Commission shall consider how this problem should be met by Government action and by private action.

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Among other things, the Commission shall examine the laws, practices, and procedures concerning protection against treason, sabotage, espionage, and other matters affecting the internal security of the Nation; and the Commission shall consider the operation of and any need for changes in such laws, practices, and procedures.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Government Operations & Civil Service
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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight)
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"When the President acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely upon his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"Power is of an encroaching nature, and it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." — Federalist No. 48 (1788)

Madison would view this order with watchful scrutiny. Operating in the 'Zone of Twilight' where Congress is silent, each such directive establishes an administrative precedent that steadily expands the executive perimeter at the expense of legislative primacy.

Madisonian Stance: Vigilant / Cautionary
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength must be under the direction of the single hand of the Executive." — Federalist No. 74 (1788)

Hamilton would forcefully champion executive discretion here. For foreign entanglements, commerce defense, and national security, deliberative assemblies are too slow and faction-ridden. A unified, energetic Executive exercising swift command is precisely what the Philadelphia Convention intended for national preservation.

Hamiltonian Stance: Strong Prerogative Support
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The president will be surrounded by flatterers and sycophants... and the great powers of the executive will gradually absorb the liberties of the people." — Cato IV (Anti-Federalist, 1787)

The Anti-Federalist prism advises continuous democratic vigilance. Even routine administrative directives aggregate centralized federal power away from town halls and state assemblies toward a distant executive apparatus.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
47 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Moderate Friction

The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.

Benchmark: Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
505
3,180 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.6
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: 1. There is hereby established in the Executive Office of the President a commission to be known as the President's Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights, which shall be composed of a Chairman, a Vice Chairman, and seven other members, all of whom shall be designated by the President. 2. (a) The Commission shall make a thorough study of the problem of providing for the internal security of the United States and at the same time protecting the rights and freedoms of individuals. The Commission shall consider how this problem should be met by Government action and by private action. Among other things, the Commission shall examine the laws, practices, and procedures concerning protection against treason, sabotage, espionage, and other matters affecting the internal security of the Nation; and the Commission shall consider the operation of and any need for changes in such laws, practices, and procedures. The subjects considered by the Commission shall include the Government employee loyalty program and the Government employee security program. The Commission shall also consider the need for protecting individuals from unwarranted attacks and from unwarranted infringement of their rights and liberties in the name of security. (b) The Commission shall make a report to the President of its findings and conclusions (to be preceded by such interim reports as it may find desirable), and shall make such recommendations for legislative, administrative, or other action as it deems appropriate. 3. In carrying out its functions under this order, the Commission shall prescribe its own rules of procedure. The Commission may hold such public hearings and hear such witnesses as it may determine, and it may, in connection with matters relating to Federal employees, examine any and all records and files relating to individual cases in possession of any executive department or agency. All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government are authorized and directed to cooperate with the Commission in its work and to furnish the Commission such information and assistance, not inconsistent with law, as it may require in the performance of its functions. The Commission shall take appropriate measures to protect the security or confidential character of any security-classified information or information of a confidential nature submitted to it or examined by it. 4. The expenditures of the Commission shall be paid out of an allotment made by the President from the appropriation "Executive Office of the President-Emergencies (National defense)". Such payments shall be made without regard to the provisions of (a) section 3681 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (31 U.S.C. 672), (b) section 9 of the act of March 4, 1909, 35 Stat. 1027 (31 U.S.C. 673), and (c) such other laws as the President may hereafter specify. 5. Thirty days after the presentation of its final report to the President, the Commission shall cease to exist unless the President shall otherwise direct. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

January 23, 1951

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

References Executive Order 10305—Revoking Executive Order No. 10207 of January 23, 1951, Establishing the President's Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights
Harry S Truman • 1951-11-14
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,207 (Jan. 23, 1951), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10207-establishing-the-presidents-commission-internal-security-and.