Official Document Text
Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)
By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, and in order to provide for the release and dissemination of certain scientific and industrial information heretofore or hereafter obtained from the enemy by any department or agency of this Government, to the end that such information may be of maximum benefit to the public, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. It is the policy of this Government, subject to the requirements of national military security, that there shall be prompt, public, free and general dissemination of enemy scientific and industrial information. The expression "enemy scientific and industrial information," as used herein, is defined to comprise all information concerning scientific, industrial and technological processes, inventions, methods, devices, improvements and advances heretofore or hereafter obtained by any department or agency of this Government in enemy countries regardless of its origin, or in liberated areas, if such information is of enemy origin or has been acquired or appropriated by the enemy. 2. The scope of the authority vested in the Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion as Chairman of the Publication Board and in the Publication Board by Executive Order No. 9568 of June 8, 1945, is extended to include enemy scientific and industrial information. The procedures outlined in Executive Order No. 9568, insofar as applicable, are extended to the declassification, release and publication of enemy scientific and industrial information. 3. Nothing in this order shall be construed to limit or modify the power of the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy to determine finally whether the national military security permits the release in whole or in part of enemy scientific or industrial information. HARRY S. TRUMAN THE WHITE HOUSE, August 25, 1945