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Executive Order 11564 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 11564—Transfer of Certain Programs and Activities to the Secretary of Commerce

Richard Nixon Richard Nixon
•
Tuesday, October 6, 1970
•
2 min read (388 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

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

This executive order, signed by President Richard Nixon on 1970-10-06, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Transfer of Certain Programs and Activities to the Secretary of Commerce." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

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

▪ By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 12 of the Act of February 14, 1903, as amended (15 U.S.C.
▪ 4 of 1970 transferring certain functions to the Secretary of Commerce and establishing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Department of Commerce, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
Total Words
388
2,458 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.6
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
+0.02
Framers' Alignment index
📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 11564, Richard Nixon (Oct 6, 1970). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11564-transfer-certain-programs-and-activities-the-secretary-commerce.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →
By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 12 of the Act of February 14, 1903, as amended (15 U.S.C. 1517) and section 12(d) of the Act of October 15, 1966 (49 U.S.C. 1651 note), as President of the United States, and in further implementation of Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970 transferring certain functions to the Secretary of Commerce and establishing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Department of Commerce, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. (a) The following programs and activities are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Commerce: (1) The National Oceanographic Instrumentation Center of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense. (2) The National Oceanographic Data Center of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense. (3) The Ocean Station Vessel Meteorological Program of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense. (4) The Trust Territories Upper Air Observation Program of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense. (5) The Hydroclimatic Network Program of the Corps of Engineers of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense. (6) The National Data Buoy Development Project of the Coast Guard, Department of Transportation. (b) All of the power and authority of the transferor Departments conferred by law which is related to or incidental to. in support of, or necessary for, the operation of the programs and activities transferred by subsection (a) above, may be utilized by the Secretary of Commerce for the operation of those programs and activities.' SEC. 2. (a) Such personnel and positions and so much of the property, records, and unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds employed, used, held, authorized, affected, available, or to he made available in connection with the operation of the programs and activities transferred by section 1 hereof from the Department of Defense and the Department of Transportation as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall determine shall be transferred from those Departments to the Department of Commerce at such time or times as the Director shall direct. (b) Subject to the direction of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the appropriate officers of the Government shall make necessary administrative arrangements for the assumption by the Secretary of Commerce of the programs and activities so transferred. RICHARD NIXON The White House October 6, 1970