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Executive Order 11353 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.29) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 11353—Establishing the President's Advisory Council on Cost Reduction

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Tuesday, May 23, 1967
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3 min read (558 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (558 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established the President's Advisory Council on Cost Reduction (hereinafter referred to as the Council).

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

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

Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on May 23, 1967, this order concerns Establishing the President's Advisory Council on Cost Reduction. Establishment of the Council. (a) There is hereby established the President's Advisory Council on Cost Reduction (hereinafter referred to as the Council). (b) The Council shall consist of the following: (1) The Director of the Bureau of the Budget, who shall be the Chairman of the Council, (2) The Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission, and the Administrator of General…

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 the President's Advisory Council on Cost Reduction (hereinafter referred to as the Council).

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The Council shall consist of the following: (1) The Director of the Bureau of the Budget, who shall be the Chairman of the Council, (2) The Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission, and the Administrator of General Services, (3) Such other heads of executive departments and agencies, and such other officers or employees of the Federal Government, as the President may designate, and (4) Such other members as the President may appoint from the public at large.

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Federal members of the Council shall receive no additional compensation for such service.

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Members appointed from private life shall receive compensation for each day engaged on business of the Council and travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by sections 3109 and 5703 of Title 5 of the United States Code for persons in the Government service employed intermittently.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
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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 1 (Maximum Authority)
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"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
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
39 / 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

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

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

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

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ 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
558
3,575 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
17.5
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.29
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS the economical management of the executive branch is a vital and continuing responsibility of the President; and WHEREAS it is essential that the resources devoted to the fulfillment of our international responsibilities and the needs of our citizens be utilized in as effective and prudent a manner as possible; and WHEREAS economies achieved in any governmental program permit more effective meeting of these urgent national needs; and WHEREAS the best cost reduction practices and techniques developed by individual Government agencies and by business and industry should be utilized in all Government agencies whenever applicable; and WHEREAS there is a need for review and advice to the President on the progress of the Government's cost reduction program: Now, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. Establishment of the Council. (a) There is hereby established the President's Advisory Council on Cost Reduction (hereinafter referred to as the Council). (b) The Council shall consist of the following: (1) The Director of the Bureau of the Budget, who shall be the Chairman of the Council, (2) The Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission, and the Administrator of General Services, (3) Such other heads of executive departments and agencies, and such other officers or employees of the Federal Government, as the President may designate, and (4) Such other members as the President may appoint from the public at large. (c) Federal members of the Council shall receive no additional compensation for such service. Members appointed from private life shall receive compensation for each day engaged on business of the Council and travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by sections 3109 and 5703 of Title 5 of the United States Code for persons in the Government service employed intermittently. SEC. 2. Functions of the Council. The Council shall: (1) Review and evaluate the nature and adequacy of the Government cost reduction efforts and advise the President on means to strengthen and improve them. (2) Explore with responsible operating officials throughout the executive branch opportunities for cost reduction and appropriate actions to achieve them. (3) Consult with leaders in business, industry and research to draw on their experience in achieving cost reductions and to invite their suggestions. (4) Identify outstanding cost reduction programs, practices, and techniques developed in Government agencies and in business and industry susceptible to wider use in Government. (5) Submit a final report to the President containing an evaluation of the Government-wide cost reduction program and appropriate recommendations for enhancing its effectiveness no later than 12 months after the effective date of this order, and make interim reports which it deems advisable. SEC. 3. Federal agencies. (a) Upon request of the Chairman each executive department and agency shall, consistent with law, furnish the Council available information which the Council may require in performance of its functions. (b) Each executive department and agency represented on the Council shall furnish such necessary assistance to the Council as may be authorized by section 214 of the Act of May 3, 1945, 59 Stat. 134 (31 U.S.C. 691). SEC. 4. Termination of the Council. The Council shall terminate 30 days after the submission of the final report to the President. LYNDON B. JOHNSON The White House May 23, 1967

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

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

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 11,353 (May 23, 1967), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11353-establishing-the-presidents-advisory-council-cost-reduction.