By the authority vested in me as President and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America by Sections 301c, 305a, and 403 of Title 37 of the United States Code, and in order to implement incentive pay for submarine duty for Navy enlisted members and officers, to implement special pay for officers serving on sea duty and increased rates of special pay for enlisted personnel serving on sea duty, and to extend the payment of basic allowances for quarters to certain members without dependents, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1-1. Incentive Pay for Submarine Duty. 1-101. Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is further amended by revising Section 106 of Part I thereof to read as follows: "Sec. 106(a). As determined by the Secretary of the Navy, a member who is entitled to basic pay, who holds or is in training leading to a submarine duty designator, who is not entitled to continuous monthly submarine duty incentive pay, and who is in and remains in the submarine service on a career basis, is also entitled to submarine duty incentive pay for the frequent and regular performance of operational submarine duty required by orders, except as provided by 37 U.S.C. 301c(c). "(b) To the extent provided for by appropriations, a member of the Naval Reserve who is entitled to compensation under Section 206 of Title 37 of the United States Code, and who performs, under orders, duty on a submarine during underway operations, is eligible for an increase in such compensation equal to one-thirtieth of the monthly submarine duty incentive pay for the performance of that duty by a member of a corresponding grade and years of service who is entitled to basic pay when those orders specify such increased entitlement. Such member is eligible for the increase for each day served, for as long as he is qualified for it, during each regular period of appropriate duty. "(c) As determined by the Secretary of the Navy, a member who is entitled to basic pay, who holds or is in training leading to a submarine duty designator and who is in and remains in the submarine service on a career basis, is entitled to continuous monthly submarine duty incentive pay, subject to the performance of required number of years of operational submarine duty (37 U.S.C. 301c(a) (3)(4)), except as provided by 37 U.S.C. 301c(c). "(d) The Secretary of the Navy is hereby designated and empowered to issue additional implementing regulations with respect to entitlement of regular and reserve officers and enlisted members of the Navy to submarine duty incentive pay, or continuous monthly submarine duty incentive pay.". 1-2. Special Pay for Career Sea Duty. 1-201. Section 201 of Part II of Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is further revised to read as follows: "Sec. 201(a). The following members of a uniformed service who are entitled to receive basic pay shall be entitled to receive, additionally, career sea pay while on sea duty: (1) enlisted members who are in pay grade E-4 or above, (2) warrant officers, (3) commissioned officers in pay grade 0-3 or above who have over three years of sea duty, and (4) commissioned officers in pay grades O-1 and 0-2 with at least four years active service as enlisted members or as noncommissioned warrant officers and over three years of sea duty. "(b) The period of sea duty shall include the date of reporting and the date of detachment as stated in orders. Career sea pay shall be at the rates prescribed in Section 305a of Title 37 of the United States Code.". 1-202. Section 202 of Part II of Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is revoked. 1-203. Part II of Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is further revised by adding a new Section 202 as follows: "Sec. 202. A member of a uniformed service who is entitled to career sea pay and who has served 36 consecutive months of sea duty as such period is computed under regulations of the Secretary concerned, is entitled to a monthly career sea pay premium for the thirty-seventh consecutive month and each subsequent consecutive month of sea duty service by such member when such member is entitled to career sea pay. In the regulations published by the Secretary concerned, the term 'consecutive months of sea duty' may be defined to include periods during which a member is serving in or under orders to duties, service in which qualifies the member for career sea pay, either periodically or continuously during assignment to such duties. Examples of such periods are periods of service as a member of a two crewed submarine or fleet aviation units assigned to ships, or periods for training, hospitalization, or other periods of a similar nature.". 1-204. Section 206 of Part II of Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is further revised by deleting subsection (b). 1-3. Basic Allowance for Quarters. 1-301. Subsection 401 of Part IV of Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is amended by adding new subsections (e) and (f) as follows: "(e) The term 'deployed' shall apply to time during which the unit is at sea or in a port more than 50 miles from its home port; provided, however, time during which the unit is in a port for overhaul or extended repairs is not to be considered deployed time. Unanticipated overhauls or extended repairs which occur during a period scheduled as extended deployment in the mission assignment of the ship is time deployed unless otherwise classified by appropriate command authority. "(f) The phrase "while the unit to which he is assigned is deployed for a period in excess of 90 days" shall apply to periods of time commencing on the 91st day the unit to which the member is assigned is deployed.". 1-302. Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is further amended by deleting section 408 of Part IV thereof. 1-4. Effective Date. 1-401. The amendments made by this Order to Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, shall be effective as of January 1, 1981. JIMMY CARTER The White House, January 16, 1981. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:22 a.m., January 19, 1981]
Executive Order 12274—Military Pay and Allowances
Executive Brief • At a Glance
Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is further amended by revising Section 106 of Part I thereof to read as follows: "Sec. 106(a).
Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis
Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.
Signed by President Jimmy Carter on January 16, 1981, this order concerns Military Pay and Allowances. 1-1. Incentive Pay for Submarine Duty. 1-101. Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is further amended by revising Section 106 of Part I thereof to read as follows: "Sec. 106(a). As determined by the Secretary of the Navy, a member who is entitled to basic pay, who holds or is in training leading to a submarine duty designator, who is not entitled to continuous monthly submarine duty incentive pay, and who is in…
Key Directives & Operative Actions
Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is further amended by revising Section 106 of Part I thereof to read as follows: "Sec. 106(a).
"(d) The Secretary of the Navy is hereby designated and empowered to issue additional implementing regulations with respect to entitlement of regular and reserve officers and enlisted members of the Navy to submarine duty incentive pay, or continuous monthly submarine duty incentive pay.". 1-2.
Of Part II of Executive Order No. 11157, as amended, is further revised to read as follows: "Sec. 201(a).
The following members of a uniformed service who are entitled to receive basic pay shall be entitled to receive, additionally, career sea pay while on sea duty: (1) enlisted members who are in pay grade E-4 or above, (2) warrant officers, (3) commissioned officers in pay grade 0-3 or above who have over three years of sea duty, and (4) commissioned officers in pay grades O-1 and 0-2 with at least four years active service as enlisted members or as noncommissioned warrant officers and over three years of sea duty.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
Policy Areas & Topics
The Framers' Constitutional Council
1787 PrismEvaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.
"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."
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.
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.
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.
Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions
An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.
Due Process & Individual Rights
Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.
This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 12,274 (Jan. 16, 1981), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12274-military-pay-and-allowances.