Whereas it is desirable in the interest of economy, consistent programs, and effective administration to coordinate to the greatest possible extent the policies, plans, and activities of all Federal civil agencies in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; and Whereas section 87 of the act of July 1, 1902, 32 Stat. 712, provides that the business assigned to the Bureau of Insular Affairs "* * * shall embrace all matters pertaining to the civil government in the island possessions of the United States subject to the jurisdiction of the War Department"; and the functions conferred upon the Bureau of Insular Affairs pertaining to Puerto Rico were transferred from the Department of War to the Division of Territories and Island Possessions in the Department of the Interior by Executive Order No. 6726 of May 29, 1934, issued pursuant to section 16 of the Reorganization Act of March 3, 1933 (47 Stat. 1517); and Whereas section 11 of the act of March 2, 1917, 39 Stat. 955, provides that all reports required by law to be made by the Governor or heads of Departments of Puerto Rico to any official of the United States shall be made to an Executive Department of the Government of the United States to be designated by the President, and authorizes the President to place all matters pertaining to the government of Puerto Rico in the jurisdiction of such Department; and Whereas section 39 of the act of June 22, 1936. 49 Stat. 1817, authorizes the President to place all matters pertaining to the government of the Virgin Islands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior: Now, Therefore , by virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the aforesaid acts, and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: 1. Each Federal civil agency performing services in Puerto Rico or in the Virgin Islands shall make current reports to the Secretary of the Interior concerning the work of such agency in such manner and form and at such times as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. 2. The Secretary of the Interior shall make such recommendations to the heads of Federal civil agencies so reporting as may in his Judgment serve to correlate the work of such agencies in Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands, eliminate unessential Federal activities, assist insular agencies to assume increasing responsibility in civil administration, meet more efficiently the needs of the people of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for essential Federal services, and implement the policies of the United States with respect to its island possessions. 3. The Secretary of the Interior shall from time to time report to the President and to the Congress concerning the actions taken pursuant to this order. 4. This order shall not be applicable to United States District Judges, United States Attorneys, and United States Marshals. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, October 5, 1943.
Executive Order 9383 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 9383—Coordination of Functions and Policies of Federal Civil Agencies in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (493 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
Each Federal civil agency performing services in Puerto Rico or in the Virgin Islands shall make current reports to the Secretary of the Interior concerning the work of such agency in such manner and form and at such times as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. 2.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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 October 5, 1943, this order concerns Coordination of Functions and Policies of Federal Civil Agencies in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Each Federal civil agency performing services in Puerto Rico or in the Virgin Islands shall make current reports to the Secretary of the Interior concerning the work of such agency in such manner and form and at such times as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. 2.
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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Each Federal civil agency performing services in Puerto Rico or in the Virgin Islands shall make current reports to the Secretary of the Interior concerning the work of such agency in such manner and form and at such times as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. 2.
▪
The Secretary of the Interior shall make such recommendations to the heads of Federal civil agencies so reporting as may in his Judgment serve to correlate the work of such agencies in Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands, eliminate unessential Federal activities, assist insular agencies to assume increasing responsibility in civil administration, meet more efficiently the needs of the people of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for essential Federal services, and implement the policies of the United States with respect to its island possessions. 3.
▪
The Secretary of the Interior shall from time to time report to the President and to the Congress concerning the actions taken pursuant to this order. 4.
▪
This order shall not be applicable to United States District Judges, United States Attorneys, and United States Marshals.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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.
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight)
§
"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
📐
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
46 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Low Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.
Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3
Moderate Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
High Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
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
Moderate Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.
Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers
Moderate Friction
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.
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%).
ℹ️
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
493
2,924 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
21.8
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
Related Executive Orders
1 order cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 6726 May 29, 1934
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 6726—Establishing the Division of Territories and Island Possessions in the Department of the Interior and Transferring Thereto the Functions of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, War Department, Pertaining to the Administration of the Government of Puerto Rico
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
A division which shall be known as the Division of Territories and Island Possessions be, and it is hereby, established in the Department of the Interior; and it is further ordered that all of the functions of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, Department of War, together with its…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
EO 9385 Oct 6, 1943
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9385—Foreign Food Procurement and Development
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
The functions of the War Food Administration and the Commodity Credit Corporation with respect to the procurement and development of food, food machinery, and other food facilities, in foreign countries, are transferred to and consolidated in the Foreign Economic Administration…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 3m
EO 9384 Oct 4, 1943
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9384—Submission of Reports to Facilitate Budgeting Activities of the Federal Government
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
In order to facilitate budgeting activities, all departments and establishments of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government, now or hereafter authorized by law to plan, propose, undertake, or aid public works and improvement projects financed in whole or in part by the…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 4m
EO 9387 Oct 15, 1943
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9387—Establishing an Advisory Board on Just Compensation and Prescribing Its Functions
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
There is hereby established a Board, to be known as the Advisory Board on Just Compensation (hereinafter referred to as the Board), whose composition, powers, functions and responsibilities are defined herein. 2.
Franklin D. Roosevelt College Level • 2m
EO 9386 Oct 15, 1943
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9386—Regulations Governing the Granting of Allowances for Quarters and Subsistence to Enlisted Men
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the granting of (1) allowances for quarters and subsistence to enlisted men of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Public Health Service who are not furnished quarters or rations in…
Franklin D. Roosevelt High School • 5m
EO 9382 Sep 25, 1943
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9382—Making Certain Changes in the Customs Field Organization
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
The following changes be, and they are hereby, made in the customs field organization 2: 1. The designation of the town of Westby, Montana, as a customs port of entry in Customs Collection District Number 33 (Montana and Idaho), is revoked. 2.
Franklin D. Roosevelt College Level • 2m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 9383 (Oct. 5, 1943), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9383-coordination-functions-and-policies-federal-civil-agencies-puerto.
