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Executive Order 10793 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 10793—Transferring Certain Functions From the Department of Defense to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Wednesday, December 3, 1958
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2 min read (353 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (353 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Those functions (including powers, duties, activities, and parts of functions) of the Department of the Army or of any officer or organizational entity thereof which are now being performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, near Pasadena, California (hereinafter referred to as the Laboratory), except so much thereof as relates primarily to military operations and weapon system development programs, are hereby transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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 Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners
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 December 3, 1958, this order concerns Transferring Certain Functions From the Department of Defense to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Those functions (including powers, duties, activities, and parts of functions) of the Department of the Army or of any officer or organizational entity thereof which are now being performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, near Pasadena, California (hereinafter referred to as the Laboratory), except so much thereof as relates primarily to military operations and weapon…

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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Those functions (including powers, duties, activities, and parts of functions) of the Department of the Army or of any officer or organizational entity thereof which are now being performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, near Pasadena, California (hereinafter referred to as the Laboratory), except so much thereof as relates primarily to military operations and weapon system development programs, are hereby transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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In connection with the transfer of functions provided for in section 1 of this order, there is hereby transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration custody, possession, and control of the Government-owned property occupied or utilized by the Laboratory except those items of equipment therein which relate primarily to military operations and weapon system development programs of the Department of the Army.

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The Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall effect necessary administrative arrangements, including appropriate transfer of records, in connection with the transfers of functions and property provided for in sections 1 and 2 hereof.

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In order to provide for the most effective utilization of scientific and engineering resources, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall to the extent permitted by its own programs and facilities provide research and development support at the Laboratory in respect of military matters to the Department of Defense.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ National Security & Defense 🏷️ Economy & Finance
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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
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
34 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Low Friction

Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.

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

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
353
2,341 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
22
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 National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (Public Law 85-568; 72 Stat. 426) and section 202 (b) of the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 581c (b)), and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. Those functions (including powers, duties, activities, and parts of functions) of the Department of the Army or of any officer or organizational entity thereof which are now being performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, near Pasadena, California (hereinafter referred to as the Laboratory), except so much thereof as relates primarily to military operations and weapon system development programs, are hereby transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. SEC. 2. In connection with the transfer of functions provided for in section 1 of this order, there is hereby transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration custody, possession, and control of the Government-owned property occupied or utilized by the Laboratory except those items of equipment therein which relate primarily to military operations and weapon system development programs of the Department of the Army. SEC. 3. The Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall effect necessary administrative arrangements, including appropriate transfer of records, in connection with the transfers of functions and property provided for in sections 1 and 2 hereof. In order to provide for the most effective utilization of scientific and engineering resources, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall to the extent permitted by its own programs and facilities provide research and development support at the Laboratory in respect of military matters to the Department of Defense. SEC. 4. The Secretary of the Treasury shall immediately transfer from such appropriations of the Department of Defense pertinent to the functions transferred by section 1 of this order as the Secretary of Defense shall designate, to such appropriations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall specify, the amount of $4,078,250. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

December 3, 1958.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,793 (Dec. 3, 1958), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10793-transferring-certain-functions-from-the-department-defense-the.