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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 11047 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 11047—Delegating Certain Authority to the Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency

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Tuesday, August 28, 1962
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3 min read (557 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (557 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency are hereby designated and empowered to exercise jointly, without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, the authority vested in the President by the first sentence of Section 304 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (72 Stat. 749; 49 U.S.C. 1345 (first sentence)) to transfer functions (including, as used in this order, powers, duties, activities, facilities, and parts of functions) as described in that sentence to the extent that the said authority is in respect of transfers from the Department of Defense or any officer or organizational entity thereof to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency of functions relating to flight…

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

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

Signed by President John F. Kennedy on August 28, 1962, this order concerns Delegating Certain Authority to the Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency. The Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency are hereby designated and empowered to exercise jointly, without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, the authority vested in the President by the first sentence of Section 304 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (72 Stat. 749; 49 U.S.C. 1345 (first sentence)) to transfer functions (including, as used in this…

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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The Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency are hereby designated and empowered to exercise jointly, without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, the authority vested in the President by the first sentence of Section 304 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (72 Stat. 749; 49 U.S.C. 1345 (first sentence)) to transfer functions (including, as used in this order, powers, duties, activities, facilities, and parts of functions) as described in that sentence to the extent that the said authority is in respect of transfers from the Department of Defense or any officer or organizational entity thereof to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency of functions relating to flight…

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The Administrator and the Secretary shall exercise the authority hereinabove delegated to them only as they shall deem such exercise to be necessary or desirable in the interest of promoting, in respect of either civil or military aviation or both, safe and efficient air navigation and air traffic control.

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To the extent necessitated by transfers of functions effected under the provisions of Section 1 of this order: (1) Transfers of balances of appropriations available and necessary to finance and discharge the transferred functions shall be made under the authority of Section 202(b) of the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 581c (b)) as affected by the provisions of Section 1 (k) of Executive Order No. 10530 of May 10, 1954.

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Provisions for appropriate transfers of records and property shall be made under the authority of the last sentence of Section 304 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 as affected by the provisions of Section 1 of Executive Order No. 10797 of December 24, 1958.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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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

High Friction

Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.

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

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%).
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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
557
3,337 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
19.3
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 Section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. The Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency are hereby designated and empowered to exercise jointly, without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, the authority vested in the President by the first sentence of Section 304 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (72 Stat. 749; 49 U.S.C. 1345 (first sentence)) to transfer functions (including, as used in this order, powers, duties, activities, facilities, and parts of functions) as described in that sentence to the extent that the said authority is in respect of transfers from the Department of Defense or any officer or organizational entity thereof to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency of functions relating to flight inspection of air navigation facilities. SEC. 2. The Administrator and the Secretary shall exercise the authority hereinabove delegated to them only as they shall deem such exercise to be necessary or desirable in the interest of promoting, in respect of either civil or military aviation or both, safe and efficient air navigation and air traffic control. SEC. 3. (a) To the extent necessitated by transfers of functions effected under the provisions of Section 1 of this order: (1) Transfers of balances of appropriations available and necessary to finance and discharge the transferred functions shall be made under the authority of Section 202(b) of the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 581c (b)) as affected by the provisions of Section 1 (k) of Executive Order No. 10530 of May 10, 1954. (2) Provisions for appropriate transfers of records and property shall be made under the authority of the last sentence of Section 304 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 as affected by the provisions of Section 1 of Executive Order No. 10797 of December 24, 1958. (b) Neither this order nor the said Executive Order No. 10797 shall be deemed to require or authorize the transfer of any civilian or military personnel from the Department of Defense to the Federal Aviation Agency, under authority of the said Section 304, in connection with transfers of functions effected under the provisions of Section 1 of this order. SEC. 4. (a) In order to facilitate the orderly and timely accomplishment of the transfers and other arrangements mentioned in Section 3(a) of this order, the Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency shall transmit to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, not less than 30 days prior to the execution by them of any order or other transfer instrument in pursuance of the provisions of Section 1 of this order, all appropriate information in respect of any transfers or other arrangements proposed to be made in connection therewith under the provisions of Section 3 hereof, together with copy of the order or other transfer instrument proposed to be executed by them. (b) In connection with any particular action or actions under Section 1 of this order, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may either waive the requirements of Section 4 (a) , above, or reduce the 30 day period there prescribed. JOHN F. KENNEDY

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

August 28, 1962

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 11,047 (Aug. 28, 1962), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11047-delegating-certain-authority-the-secretary-defense-and-the.