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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 9067 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9067—Providing for the Transfer of Personnel to War Agencies

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt
•
Friday, February 20, 1942
•
2 min read (419 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (419 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

For the purpose of facilitating transfers of employees under the provisions of this Order, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall from time to time establish priority classifications of the several Executive departments and agencies, or of parts or activities thereof, in respect to their relative importance to the war program, and such classifications shall be controlling as to transfers under the provisions of this Order. 2.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
Inspect unabridged text ↓

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

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

Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 20, 1942, this order concerns Providing for the Transfer of Personnel to War Agencies. For the purpose of facilitating transfers of employees under the provisions of this Order, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall from time to time establish priority classifications of the several Executive departments and agencies, or of parts or activities thereof, in respect to their relative importance to the war program, and such classifications shall be controlling as to transfers under the…

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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For the purpose of facilitating transfers of employees under the provisions of this Order, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall from time to time establish priority classifications of the several Executive departments and agencies, or of parts or activities thereof, in respect to their relative importance to the war program, and such classifications shall be controlling as to transfers under the provisions of this Order. 2.

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The Civil Service Commission is authorized to secure information as to employees of Executive departments and agencies who are deemed competent to perform essential war work in departments or agencies having a higher priority classification, and, with the consent of the employee concerned, to effect the transfer of any such employee to meet the personnel needs of a department or agency having a higher priority classification. 3.

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Whenever a transfer is proposed under the provisions of section 2, it shall become effective not later than ten days after notification to the department or agency in which the employee is serving.

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If, within that period, the employing department or agency presents to the Civil Service Commission evidence that its work will be jeopardized by the loss of the employee's services, the Civil Service Commission shall consider such evidence and make a final decision.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Government Operations & Civil Service
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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 2 (Zone of Twilight)
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"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."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
JM

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.

Madisonian Stance: Vigilant / Cautionary
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

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

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

Moderate Friction

The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.

Benchmark: Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
⚖️ 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
419
2,598 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.5
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Civil Service Act (22 Stat. 403), and by Section 1753 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (U.S.C., title 5, sec. 631), and in order to expedite the transfer of personnel to war agencies, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. For the purpose of facilitating transfers of employees under the provisions of this Order, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall from time to time establish priority classifications of the several Executive departments and agencies, or of parts or activities thereof, in respect to their relative importance to the war program, and such classifications shall be controlling as to transfers under the provisions of this Order. 2. The Civil Service Commission is authorized to secure information as to employees of Executive departments and agencies who are deemed competent to perform essential war work in departments or agencies having a higher priority classification, and, with the consent of the employee concerned, to effect the transfer of any such employee to meet the personnel needs of a department or agency having a higher priority classification. 3. Whenever a transfer is proposed under the provisions of section 2, it shall become effective not later than ten days after notification to the department or agency in which the employee is serving. If, within that period, the employing department or agency presents to the Civil Service Commission evidence that its work will be jeopardized by the loss of the employee's services, the Civil Service Commission shall consider such evidence and make a final decision. Transfers to departments and agencies having the same or lower classifications, shall not be effected without the consent of the department or agency in which the employee is serving. 4. Any employee transferred pursuant to this Order shall be entitled to all the reemployment benefits provided by Executive Order No. 8973 of December 12, 1941. 5. The Civil Service Commission is authorized to adopt such rules and regulations and to establish such procedure as may be necessary to carry out its responsibilities under this Order. Each Executive department and agency shall promptly furnish the Civil Service Commission such information regarding its employees as the Commission may require for the effectuation of this Order. 6. This Order shall supersede any provisions of Executive Order No. 8973 of December 12, 1941, or of any other Executive Order or Rule of the Civil Service Commission which is in conflict therewith. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, February 20, 1942.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (3)

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

References Executive Order 9994—Amendment of Executive Order No. 9952 of April 22, 1948, Providing for the Termination of Reemployment Rights of Federal Civilian Employees Who Transferred to Public or Private Agencies for National-Defense or War Work
Harry S Truman • 1948-09-01
References Executive Order 9952—Termination of Reemployment Rights of Federal Civilian Employees Who Transferred to Public or Private Agencies for National-Defense or War Work
Harry S Truman • 1948-04-22
Revokes Executive Order 9243—Providing for the Transfer and Release of Federal Personnel
Franklin D. Roosevelt • 1942-09-12
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 9067 (Feb. 20, 1942), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9067-providing-for-the-transfer-personnel-war-agencies.