Executive Order 12049—Defense Economic Adjustment Programs

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution of the United States of America, in order to provide coordinated Federal economic adjustment assistance necessitated by changes in Department of Defense activities, it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. Functions of the Secretary of Defense. (a) The Secretary shall, through the Economic Adjustment Committee, design and establish an Economic Adjustment Program to assist in the alleviation of serious economic and social impacts that result from major Defense realignments. The program shall provide for: 1. Identification of Defense-related impact problems of States, metropolitan areas, or communities that require assistance. 2. Preparation of development strategies and action plans to coordinate Federal, State and local economic adjustment efforts. 3. Strengthened and uniform economic impact analysis and analysis of community requirements for Federal economic adjustment resources, prior to base realignment action. 4. Timely and earliest possible consultation and cooperation with local, State and Federal officials concerning impact problems and coordinated interagency and intergovernmental adjustment assistance. 5. A clearinghouse service to exchange information among Federal, State and local officials involved in the resolution of community adjustment problems; e.g., previous studies, technical information, and sources of public and private financing. 6. Application of consistent policies, practices, and procedures in the administration of Federal programs that are utilized to assist Defense impact communities. 7. Encouragement of effective State and regional cooperation and concerted involvement of public interest groups and private sector organizations in Defense adjustment activities. 8. Development, with representatives of appropriate agencies, of uniform criteria for the determination .of social economic impact of a particular realignment. 9. Identification and strengthening of existing agency mechanisms to better coordinate employment opportunities for displaced agency personnel. 10. Increased attractiveness to the private sector of interim usage of lands and buildings and ways of streamlining property disposal procedures to enable impacted communities to acquire base property for job-generation purposes as military activities phase down. (b) The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that sufficient resources and personnel are allocated to carry out these functions. SEC. 2. Economic Adjustment Committee. (a) The Economic Adjustment Committee is hereby continued. (b) The Committee shall be composed of the following, or a principal deputy, and such others as the President may designate: (1) The Secretary of Defense, who shall be the Chairman of the Committee. (2) The Secretary of Agriculture. (3) The Secretary of Commerce. (4) The Secretary of Energy. (5) The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. (6) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. (7) The Secretary of the Interior. (8) The Secretary of Labor. (9) The Secretary of Transportation. (10) The Attorney General. (11) The Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers. (12) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget. (13) The Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. (14) The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. (15) The Director of the Community Services Administration. (16) The Administrator of General Services. (17) The Administrator of the Small Business Administration. (18) The Chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission. (c) The Committee shall advise, assist, and support the Secretary of Defense's Economic Adjustment activities. (d) The Secretary of Defense shall provide all necessary administrative support for the Committee. SEC. 3. Responsibility of Executive Agencies. (a) The head of each agency represented on the Economic Adjustment Committee shall designate a permanent representative to: (1) serve as liaison with the Secretary of Defense's economic adjustment staff, (2) coordinate agency support and participation in assistance projects, and (3) assist in resolving community impact problems. (b) All Executive agencies shall: (1) Support, to the extent permitted by law, the economic adjustment assistance activities of the Secretary of Defense. Such support shall include the use and application of personnel, technical expertise, legal authorities, and available financial resources to the extent required to provide a coordinated Federal response to the needs of individual communities, States, and regions adversely affected by necessary Defense changes. (2) Afford priority consideration to community requests for Federal technical assistance, financial resources, excess or surplus property, or other requirements that are part of a comprehensive plan issued by the Economic Adjustment Committee. SEC. 4. Construction. Nothing in this Order shall be construed as subjecting any function vested by law in, or assigned pursuant to law to, any agency or head thereof to the authority of any other agency or officer or as abrogating or restricting any such function in any manner. JIMMY CARTER The White House, March 27, 1978. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 1:15 p.m., March 28, 1978]