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Executive Order 13470 Constitutional Fidelity (+0.80)

Executive Order 13470—Further Amendments to Executive Order 12333, United States Intelligence Activities

Wednesday, July 30, 2008
44 min read (8,835 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 George W. Bush on 2008-07-30, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Further Amendments to Executive Order 12333, United States Intelligence Activities." It is an expansive, comprehensive regulatory directive mandating coordinated enforcement, detailed procedural standards, and formal agency compliance benchmarks across multiple federal departments.

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

Executive Order 12333, as amended, is further amended by striking Part 1 in its entirety and inserting in lieu thereof the following new part: PART 1 Goals, Directions, Duties, and Responsibilities with Respect to United States Intelligence Efforts 1.1 Goals.
The United States intelligence effort shall provide the President, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council with the necessary information on which to base decisions concerning the development and conduct of foreign, defense, and economic policies, and the protection of United States national interests from foreign security threats.
All departments and agencies shall cooperate fully to fulfill this goal.
The National Security Council (NSC) shall act as the highest ranking executive branch entity that provides support to the President for review of, guidance for, and direction to the conduct of all foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and covert action, and attendant policies and programs.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
Total Words
8,835
62,225 characters
Estimated Read Time
44 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
27
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
+0.80
Framers' Alignment index
📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 13470, George W. Bush (Jul 30, 2008). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-13470-further-amendments-executive-order-12333-united-states-intelligence.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)