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Executive Order 10679 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 10679—Withholding of Compensation of Certain Civilian Employees of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard for State Employee Retirement System Purposes

Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Thursday, September 20, 1956

•

4 min read (702 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (702 words) • ● In Effect

🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing agreements to be entered into between the Secretary of Defense and States or Territories, pursuant to the provisions of the said act of June 15, 1956, with respect to withholding of compensation of certain civilian employees of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard for State or Territorial employee-retirement system purposes: 1.

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 Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

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 Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 20, 1956, this order concerns Withholding of Compensation of Certain Civilian Employees of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard for State Employee Retirement System Purposes. I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing agreements to be entered into between the Secretary of Defense and States or Territories, pursuant to the provisions of the said act of June 15, 1956, with respect to withholding of compensation of certain civilian employees of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard for State or Territorial employee-retirement system purposes: 1.

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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Such an agreement shall be entered into by the Secretary of Defense within one hundred and twenty days of the receipt of a request therefor by the Secretary from the Governor or any other proper official of any State or Territory: Provided, (a) that the law of such State or Territory provides for the payment of employee contributions to such State or Territorial employee-retirement systems by withholding sums from the compensation of such State or Territorial employees and making returns of such sums to officials of such State or Territory; (b) that civilian employees of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard, other than those employed by the National Guard Bureau, are eligible for membership in a State or Territorial…

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Each such agreement (a) shall provide that the Secretary of the Army with respect to such employees of the Army National Guard, and the Secretary of the Air Force with respect to such employees of the Air National Guard, shall comply with the requirements of such State or Territorial law in the case of employees subject to the said act of June 15, 1956, who are eligible for membership in such retirement system for State or Territorial employees, (b) shall specify when the withholding of sums from the compensation of such State or Territorial employees shall commence, and (c) shall provide for procedures for the withholding, the filing of the returns. and the payment of the sums withheld from compensation to the State or Territory which…

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The Secretary of the Army with respect to Army National Guard employees, and the Secretary of the Air Force with respect to Air National Guard employees, shall designate, or provide for the designation of, the officers or employees whose duty it shall be to withhold sums from compensation, file required returns, and direct the payment of such sums withheld, in accordance with the terms of the agreements entered into between the Secretary of Defense and the States or Territories. 4.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ National Security & Defense

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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)

"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

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

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

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

45 / 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

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.

Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

High Friction

Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.

Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Low Friction

Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.

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%).

ℹ️

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

702

4,213 characters

Estimated Read Time

4 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

31.7

Post-Graduate Legal

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 by the act of June 15, 1956, 70 Stat. 283, and section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, and as President of the United States, I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing agreements to be entered into between the Secretary of Defense and States or Territories, pursuant to the provisions of the said act of June 15, 1956, with respect to withholding of compensation of certain civilian employees of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard for State or Territorial employee-retirement system purposes: 1. Such an agreement shall be entered into by the Secretary of Defense within one hundred and twenty days of the receipt of a request therefor by the Secretary from the Governor or any other proper official of any State or Territory: Provided, (a) that the law of such State or Territory provides for the payment of employee contributions to such State or Territorial employee-retirement systems by withholding sums from the compensation of such State or Territorial employees and making returns of such sums to officials of such State or Territory; (b) that civilian employees of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard, other than those employed by the National Guard Bureau, are eligible for membership in a State or Territorial employee-retirement system; and (c) that each such agreement shall be consistent with the provisions of the said act of June 15, 1956, and of rules and regulations issued thereunder, and shall be subject to any amendments of the said act, including amendments occurring after the effective date of any such agreement. 2. Each such agreement (a) shall provide that the Secretary of the Army with respect to such employees of the Army National Guard, and the Secretary of the Air Force with respect to such employees of the Air National Guard, shall comply with the requirements of such State or Territorial law in the case of employees subject to the said act of June 15, 1956, who are eligible for membership in such retirement system for State or Territorial employees, (b) shall specify when the withholding of sums from the compensation of such State or Territorial employees shall commence, and (c) shall provide for procedures for the withholding, the filing of the returns. and the payment of the sums withheld from compensation to the State or Territory which conform, so far as practicable, to the usual fiscal practices of the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force, respectively. 3. The Secretary of the Army with respect to Army National Guard employees, and the Secretary of the Air Force with respect to Air National Guard employees, shall designate, or provide for the designation of, the officers or employees whose duty it shall be to withhold sums from compensation, file required returns, and direct the payment of such sums withheld, in accordance with the terms of the agreements entered into between the Secretary of Defense and the States or Territories. 4. Nothing in this order, or in rules or regulations issued thereunder, or in any agreement entered into pursuant thereto, shall be construed as giving consent to the application of any provision of law of any State or Territory which has the effect of imposing more burdensome requirements upon the United States than it imposes upon the departments, agencies, or political subdivisions of the State or Territory concerned with respect to employees thereof who are members of the State or Territorial retirement system, or which has the effect of subjecting the United States or any of its officers or employees to any penalty or liability. 5. As used in this order, the term "employees" means civilian employees of the Army National Guard or Air National Guard of a State or Territory who are employed pursuant to section 709 of title 32 of the United States Code, and paid from Federal, appropriated funds. 6. I hereby delegate to the Secretary of Defense authority to prescribe such rules and regulations not inconsistent herewith as may be necessary to further effectuate the provisions of the said act of June 15, 1956, or of this order. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

September 20, 1956.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

Supersedes Executive Order 10996—Promulgating Regulations Concerning Withholding of Compensation of Civilian Employees of the National Guard for State and State-Sponsored Employee Retirement, Disability, or Death Benefits Programs

John F. Kennedy • 1962-02-16

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 10,679 (Sept. 20, 1956), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10679-withholding-compensation-certain-civilian-employees-the-army.