Executive Order 12321 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 12321—Foreign Assistance and Arms Export Control

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Monday, September 14, 1981

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1 min read (134 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 Ronald Reagan on 1981-09-14, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Foreign Assistance and Arms Export Control." It is a direct, concise executive instruction delivering focused administrative or military commands to department leadership.

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 the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America by Section 515(f) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (22 U.S.C.

▪ 2321i(f)), Section 29 of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended (94 Stat.

▪ 12163 of September 29, 1979, is amended by deleting "515(f),".

▪ 11958 of January 18, 1977, is amended to read as follows: "Those under Sections 22(a) and 29 of the Act to the Secretary of Defense.".

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities

Total Words

134

761 characters

Estimated Read Time

1 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

7.1

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12321, Ronald Reagan (Sep 14, 1981). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12321-foreign-assistance-and-arms-export-control.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

By the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America by Section 515(f) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2321i(f)), Section 29 of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended (94 Stat. 3133; 22 U.S.C. 2769), and Section 301 of Title 3 of the United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section I. Section 1-701(d) of Executive Order No. 12163 of September 29, 1979, is amended by deleting "515(f),". Sec. 2. Section l(d) of Executive Order No. 11958 of January 18, 1977, is amended to read as follows: "Those under Sections 22(a) and 29 of the Act to the Secretary of Defense.". RONALD REAGAN The White House, September 14, 1981. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:02 p.m., September 15, 1981]