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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 13961 Partially revoked 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.52) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 13961—Governance and Integration of Federal Mission Resilience

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Monday, December 7, 2020
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6 min read (1,103 words)
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85 Fed. Reg. 79379

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 6 min read (1,103 words) • ● Partially revoked
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Federal Mission Resilience Executive Committee (Executive Committee) is hereby established.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

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

Signed by President Donald J. Trump (1st Term) on December 7, 2020, this order concerns Governance and Integration of Federal Mission Resilience. The following: Section 1 . Policy . It is the policy of the United States to maintain comprehensive and effective continuity programs that ensure national security and the preservation of government structure under the United States Constitution and in alignment with Presidential Policy Directive-40 (PPD-40) of July 15, 2016 (National Continuity Policy).

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

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Executive Committee

The Federal Mission Resilience Executive Committee (Executive Committee) is hereby established.

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Implementation

Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Executive Committee shall submit a Federal Mission Resilience Executive Committee Charter to the President, through the Chief of Staff, that identifies any subordinate bodies, working groups, and reporting mechanisms that support the role of the Executive Committee.

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Program Support

The national security and emergency preparedness Executive Committee Joint Program Office established by section 4 of Executive Order 13618 shall support the Executive Committee established in section 3 of this order, the execution of activities described in section 4 of this order, and those activities taken by the Director of OSTP pursuant to section 6 of this order.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
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"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
AH

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.

Hamiltonian Stance: Strong Prerogative Support
GM

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.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
43 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

High Friction

Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Low Friction

Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
1,103
7,200 characters
Estimated Read Time
6 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
20.5
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.52
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, I hereby order the following:

Section 1 . #sec-1

Policy . It is the policy of the United States to maintain comprehensive and effective continuity programs that ensure national security and the preservation of government structure under the United States Constitution and in alignment with Presidential Policy Directive-40 (PPD-40) of July 15, 2016 (National Continuity Policy). Executive departments and agencies (agencies), including the Executive Office of the President, must maintain the capability and capacity to continuously perform National Essential Functions (NEFs), as defined by PPD-40, regardless of threat or condition, and with the understanding that adequate warning may not be available. Agency heads must fully integrate preparedness programs, including continuity and risk management, into day-to-day operations to ensure the preservation of the NEFs under all conditions.

Sec. 2 . #sec-2

Federal Mission Resilience Strategy . To achieve this policy, in conjunction with this order, I am signing the Federal Mission Resilience Strategy (Strategy), which should be implemented to increase the resilience of the executive branch. Implementing the Strategy will reduce the current reliance on reactive relocation of personnel and enhance a proactive posture that minimizes disruption, distributes risk to the performance of NEFs, and maximizes the cost-effectiveness of actions that ensure continuity of operations, continuity of government, and enduring constitutional government.

Sec. 3 . #sec-3

Executive Committee . (a) The Federal Mission Resilience Executive Committee (Executive Committee) is hereby established. (b) The Executive Committee shall be composed of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), the Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. When issues concerning science and technology, including communications technology, are on the agenda, the Executive Committee also shall include the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The heads of other agencies, and other senior officials, shall be invited to attend meetings as appropriate. (c) The APNSA, in coordination with the other members of the Executive Committee, shall be responsible for convening the committee, as appropriate, to coordinate the review, integration, and execution of the Strategy and other continuity policy across the executive branch. (d) The Executive Committee shall: (i) coordinate the development of an implementation plan (Plan) for the Strategy and other continuity policy, as described in section 4(b) of this order, and shall facilitate execution of the Plan and other continuity policy, as appropriate; (ii) advise the President, through the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff (Chief of Staff), on the review, integration, and execution of the Strategy and other continuity policy, including the recommendations outlined in section 4(c) of this order; (iii) establish, with consensus of its members and as appropriate, subordinate coordinating bodies; and (iv) coordinate the development of an interagency framework under which agencies will assess and address risk to Federal Mission Resilience and NEFs across the executive branch.

Sec. 4 . #sec-4

Implementation . (a) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Executive Committee shall submit a Federal Mission Resilience Executive Committee Charter to the President, through the Chief of Staff, that identifies any subordinate bodies, working groups, and reporting mechanisms that support the role of the Executive Committee. (b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Executive Committee shall submit a Federal Mission Resilience Implementation Plan to the President, through the Chief of Staff, that sets forth how the executive branch will implement the Strategy. The Plan shall describe in detail the near-, mid , and long-term actions necessary to ensure the uninterrupted performance of NEFs. (c) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the Executive Committee shall coordinate the review of existing continuity policy and other related national policies, and shall provide recommendations to the President, through the Chief of Staff, on any actions necessary to align these policies with the implementation of the Strategy.

Sec. 5 . #sec-5

Amendment to PPD-40 . To designate a new National Continuity Coordinator (NCC), in section 6 of PPD-40, the second sentence is hereby revised to read as follows: "To advise and assist the President in that function, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, or his or her designee, is designated as the NCC."

Sec. 6 . #sec-6

Amendments to Executive Order 13618 . (a)

Section 2. #sec-2-2

3 of Executive Order 13618 of July 6, 2012 (Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions), is hereby revised to read as follows: "The Director of OSTP is delegated the authority to exercise the authorities vested in the President by section 706(a), and (c) through (e) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (47 U.S.C. 606(a), and (c) through (e)), if the President takes the actions, including issuing any necessary proclamations and findings, required by that section to invoke those authorities. This delegation shall apply to any provisions of any future public law that are the same or substantially the same as the provisions referenced in this section." (b) Section 3 of Executive Order 13618 is hereby revoked. The responsibilities of the national security and emergency preparedness Executive Committee set forth in section 3.3 of Executive Order 13618 shall be transferred to and exercised by the Executive Committee established in section 3 of this order.

Sec. 7 . #sec-7

Program Support . The national security and emergency preparedness Executive Committee Joint Program Office established by section 4 of Executive Order 13618 shall support the Executive Committee established in section 3 of this order, the execution of activities described in section 4 of this order, and those activities taken by the Director of OSTP pursuant to section 6 of this order.

Sec. 8 . #sec-8

General Provisions . (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. DONALD J. TRUMP The White House, December 7, 2020.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 13,961, 85 Fed. Reg. 79,379 (Dec. 7, 2020).