Executive Order 10253—Providing for the Improvement of the Work of Federal Executive Agencies with Respect to Statistical Information

By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 103 of the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 18b), and as President of the United States, and in order to carry out the purposes of said section it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. The Director of the Bureau of the Budget (hereinafter referred to as the Director) shall develop programs, and issue regulations and orders, for the improved gathering, compiling, analyzing, publishing, and disseminating of statistical information for any purpose by the various agencies in the executive branch of the Federal Government. SEC. 2. In order to carry out the provisions of Section 1 of this order, the Director shall maintain a continuing study for the improvement of the statistical work of the agencies in the executive branch of the Federal Government with a view to obtaining the maximum benefit from the funds and facilities available for such work, giving due consideration to the constantly changing character of the various needs for statistical information both within and without the Government and, where the statistical work is primarily concerned with operating programs, giving due consideration to administrative needs, statutory requirements, and the needs involved in the development of administrative and legislative recommendations. The Director, either upon his own initiative or upon the request of any such agency, shall (a) provide fort the interchange of information calculated to improve statistical work, (b) make appropriate arrangements for improving statistical work involving relationships between two or more agencies, and (c) assist the agencies, by other means, to improve their statistical work. SEC. 3. The following shall be included amount the objectives sought in carrying out the provisions of Section 1 hereof: (a) To achieve an adequate program of statistical work in the agencies of the executive branch, in relation to over-all needs for statistical information, including the filling of gaps and overcoming of weaknesses in presently available statistical information. (b) To achieve the most effective use of resources available for statistical work by the agencies, in relation to over-all needs. (c) To minimize the burden upon those furnishing statistical data needed by the various Federal agencies. (d) To improve the reliability and timeliness of statistical information. (e) To achieve maximum comparability among the several statistical series and studies. (f) To improve the presentation of statistical information and of explanations regarding the sources and reliability of such information, and regarding the limitations on the uses that can appropriately be made of it. SEC. 4. Regulations and orders issued pursuant to Section 1 hereof shall be signed by the Director. When so signed, such regulations and orders shall require no further approval and shall be adhered to by all agencies in the executive branch. Any such regulation or order may pertain to a single agency, a group of agencies, or all agencies in the executive branch. SEC. 5. In the development of programs and the preparation of regulations and orders for issuance pursuant to Section 1 hereof, the Director shall consult Federal agencies whose activities will be substantially affected, and may consult non-Federal groups to the extent he finds it necessary to carry out the purposes of this order. SEC. 6. The authority outlined in this order is in addition to and not in substitution for the existing authority of the Director, or of the Bureau of the Budget, with respect to statistical and reporting activities. To the extent, however, that this order conflicts with any previous Executive order affecting statistical or reporting activities, the provisions of this order shall control. SEC. 7. Nothing in this Executive order shall be construed to apply to the obtaining or releasing of information by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Bureau of the Public Debt, the Bureau of Accounts, and the Division of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department, or to the obtaining by any Federal bank supervisory agency of reports and information from banks as provided or authorized by law and in the proper performance of such agency's functions in its supervisory capacity. HARRY S. TRUMAN THE WHITE HOUSE, June 11, 1951