For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 8, 2001
Executive Order Establishing Office of Homeland Security
Executive Order
Establishing the Office of Homeland Security and the Homeland Security Council
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Establishment. I hereby establish within the Executive
Office of the President an Office of Homeland Security (the "Office") to be
headed by the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security.
Sec. 2. Mission. The
mission of the Office shall be to develop and coordinate the
implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the
United States from terrorist threats or attacks. The Office
shall perform the functions necessary to carry out this mission,
including the functions specified in section 3 of this order.
Sec.
3. Functions. The functions of the Office shall
be to coordinate the executive branch's efforts to detect, prepare for,
prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist
attacks within the United States.
(a) National
Strategy. The Office shall work with executive departments
and agencies, State and local governments, and private entities to
ensure the adequacy of the national strategy for detecting, preparing
for, preventing, protecting against, responding to, and recovering from
terrorist threats or attacks within the United States and shall
periodically review and coordinate revisions to that strategy as
necessary.
(b) Detection. The
Office shall identify priorities and coordinate efforts for collection
and analysis of information within the United States regarding threats
of terrorism against the United States and activities of terrorists or
terrorist groups within the United States. The Office also
shall identify, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs, priorities for collection of intelligence
outside the United States regarding threats of terrorism within the
United States.
(i) In performing these functions, the Office shall work
with Federal, State, and local agencies, as
appropriate, to:
(A) facilitate collection from State and local governments and
private entities of information pertaining to terrorist
threats or activities within the United States;
(B) coordinate and prioritize the requirements for foreign
intelligence relating to terrorism within the United States of
executive departments and agencies responsible for homeland
security and provide these requirements and priorities to the
Director of Central Intelligence and other agencies responsible
collection of foreign intelligence;
(C) coordinate efforts to ensure that all executive
departments and agencies that have intel-ligence collection
responsibilities have sufficient technological capabilities and
resources to collect intelligence and data relating to terrorist
activities or possible terrorist acts within the United States,
working with the Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs, as appropriate;
(D) coordinate development of monitoring protocols and
equipment for use in detecting the release of biological,
chemical, and radiological hazards; and
(E) ensure that, to the extent permitted by law, all
appropriate and necessary intelligence and law enforcement
information relating to homeland security is disseminated to and
exchanged among appropriate executive departments and agencies
responsible for
homeland security and, where appropriate for reasons of homeland
security, promote exchange of such information with and among State
and local governments and private entities.
(ii) Executive departments and agencies shall, to the extent
permitted by law, make available to the
Office all information
relating to terrorist threats and
activities within the United States.
(c) Preparedness. The Office of Homeland Security
shall coordinate national efforts to prepare for and mitigate the
consequences of terrorist threats or attacks within the United
States. In performing this function, the Office shall work
with Federal, State, and local agencies, and private entities, as
appropriate, to:
(i) review and assess the adequacy of the portions of all
Federal emergency response plans that
pertain to terrorist threats or
attacks within the United States;
(ii) coordinate domestic exercises and simulations designed
to
assess and practice systems that would be
called upon to respond to a
terrorist threat or attack within the
United States and coordinate
programs and activities for training
Federal, State, and local
employees who would be called upon to
respond to such a threat or attack;
(iii) coordinate national efforts to ensure public health
preparedness for a terrorist attack,
including reviewing vaccination
policies and reviewing the adequacy of
and, if necessary, increasing
vaccine and pharmaceutical stockpiles and
hospital capacity;
(iv) coordinate Federal assistance to State and local
authorities and nongovernmental
organizations to prepare for and
respond to terrorist threats or attacks
within the United States;
(v) ensure that national preparedness programs and
activities
for terrorist threats or attacks are
developed and are regularly
evaluated under appropriate standards and
that resources are allocated
to improving and sustaining preparedness
based on such evaluations;
and
(vi) ensure the readiness and coordinated deployment of
Federal
response teams to respond to terrorist
threats or attacks, working
with the Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs,
when appropriate.
(d) Prevention. The
Office shall coordinate efforts to prevent terrorist attacks within the
United States. In performing this function, the Office shall
work with Federal, State, and local agencies, and private entities, as
appropriate, to:
(i) facilitate the exchange of information among such
agencies
relating to immigration and visa matters
and shipments of cargo; and,
working with the Assistant to the
President for National Security
Affairs, ensure coordination among such
agencies to prevent the entry
of terrorists and terrorist materials and
supplies into the United
States and facilitate removal of such
terrorists from the United
States, when appropriate;
(ii) coordinate efforts to investigate terrorist threats and
attacks within the United States; and
(iii) coordinate efforts to improve the security of United
States borders, territorial waters, and
airspace in order to prevent
acts of terrorism within the United
States, working with the Assistant
to the President for National Security
Affairs, when appropriate.
(e) Protection. The
Office shall coordinate efforts to protect the United States and its
critical infrastructure from the consequences of terrorist
attacks. In performing this function, the Office shall work
with Federal, State, and local agencies, and private entities, as
appropriate, to:
(i) strengthen measures for protecting energy production,
transmission, and distribution services
and critical facilities; other
utilities; telecommunications; facilities
that produce, use, store, or
dispose of nuclear material; and other
critical infrastructure
services and critical facilities within
the United States from
terrorist attack;
(ii) coordinate efforts to protect critical public and
privately
owned information systems within the
United States from terrorist
attack;
(iii) develop criteria for reviewing whether appropriate
security measures are in place at major
public and privately owned
facilities within the United States;
(iv) coordinate domestic efforts to ensure that special
events
determined by appropriate senior officials
to have national
significance are protected from terrorist
attack;
(v) coordinate efforts to protect transportation systems
within
the United States, including railways,
highways, shipping, ports and
waterways, and airports and civilian
aircraft, from terrorist attack;
(vi) coordinate efforts to protect United States livestock,
agriculture, and systems for the provision
of water and food for human
use and consumption from terrorist attack;
and
(vii) coordinate efforts to prevent unauthorized access to,
development of, and unlawful importation
into the United States of,
chemical, biological, radiological,
nuclear, explosive, or other
related materials that have the potential
to be used in terrorist
attacks.
(f) Response and
Recovery. The Office shall coordinate efforts to respond to
and promote recovery from terrorist threats or attacks within the
United States. In performing this function, the Office shall
work with Federal, State, and local agencies, and private entities, as
appropriate, to:
(i) coordinate efforts to ensure rapid restoration of
transportation systems, energy production,
transmission, and
distribution systems; telecommunications;
other utilities; and other
critical infrastructure facilities after
disruption by a terrorist
threat or attack;
(ii) coordinate efforts to ensure rapid restoration of
public
and private critical information systems
after disruption by a
terrorist threat or attack;
(iii) work with the National Economic Council to coordinate
efforts to stabilize United States
financial markets after a terrorist
threat or attack and manage the immediate
economic and financial
consequences of the incident;
(iv) coordinate Federal plans and programs to provide
medical,
financial, and other assistance to victims
of terrorist attacks and
their families; and
(v) coordinate containment and removal of biological,
chemical,
radiological, explosive, or other
hazardous materials in the event of
a terrorist threat or attack involving
such hazards and coordinate
efforts to mitigate the effects of such an
attack.
(g) Incident
Management. The Assistant to the President for Homeland
Security shall be the individual primarily respon-sible for
coordinating the domestic response efforts of all departments and
agencies in the event of an imminent terrorist threat and during and in
the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack within the United States
and shall be the principal point of contact for and to the President
with respect to coordination of such efforts. The Assistant
to the President for Homeland Security shall coordinate with the
Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, as
appropriate.
(h) Continuity of
Government. The Assistant to the President for Homeland
Security, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs, shall review plans and preparations for
ensuring the continuity of the Federal Government in the event of a
terrorist attack that threatens the safety and security of the United
States Government or its leadership.
(i) Public
Affairs. The Office, subject to the direction of the White
House Office of Communications, shall coordinate the strategy of the
executive branch for communicating with the public in the event of a
terrorist threat or attack within the United States. The
Office also shall coordinate the develop-ment of programs for educating
the public about the nature of terrorist threats and appropriate
precautions and responses.
(j) Cooperation with State and
Local Governments and Private Entities.
The Office shall encourage and invite the participation of State and
local governments and private entities, as appropriate, in carrying out
the Office's functions.
(k) Review of Legal Authorities
and Development of Legislative Proposals. The Office shall
coordinate a periodic review and assessment of the legal authorities
available to executive departments and agencies to permit them to
perform the functions described in this order. When the
Office determines that such legal authorities are inadequate, the
Office shall develop, in consultation with executive departments and
agencies, proposals for presidential action and legislative proposals
for submission to the Office of Management and Budget to enhance the
ability of executive departments and agencies to perform those
functions. The Office shall work with State and local
govern-ments in assessing the adequacy of their legal authorities to
permit them to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, and
recover from terrorist threats and attacks.
(l) Budget
Review. The Assistant to the President for Homeland
Security, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget (the "Director") and the heads of executive departments and
agencies, shall identify programs that contribute to the
Administration's strategy for homeland security and, in the development
of the President's annual budget submission, shall review and provide
advice to the heads of departments and agencies for such
programs. The Assistant to the President for Homeland
Security shall provide advice to the Director on the level and use of
funding in departments and agencies for homeland security-related
activities and, prior to the Director's forwarding of the proposed
annual budget submission to the President for transmittal to the
Congress, shall certify to the Director the funding levels that the
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security believes are necessary
and appropriate for the homeland security-related activities of the
executive branch.
Sec. 4. Administration.
(a) The Office of Homeland
Security shall be directed by the Assistant to the President for
Homeland Security.
(b) The Office of
Administration within the Executive Office of the President shall
provide the Office of Homeland Security with such personnel, funding,
and administrative support, to the extent permitted by law and subject
to the availability of appropriations, as directed by the Chief of
Staff to carry out the provisions of this order.
(c) Heads of executive
departments and agencies are authorized, to the extent permitted by
law, to detail or assign personnel of such departments and agencies to
the Office of Homeland Security upon request of the Assistant to the
President for Homeland Security, subject to the approval of the Chief
of Staff.
Sec. 5. Establishment of
Homeland Security Council.
(a) I hereby establish a
Homeland Security Council (the "Council"), which shall be responsible
for advising and assisting the President with respect to all aspects of
homeland security. The Council shall serve as the mechanism
for ensuring coordina-tion of homeland security-related activities of
executive departments and agencies and effective development and
implementation of homeland security policies.
(b) The Council shall have as
its members the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of the
Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary
of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Transportation, the
Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Director of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director of Central
Intelligence, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, and
such other officers of the executive branch as the President may from
time to time designate. The Chief of Staff, the Chief of
Staff to the Vice President, the Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs, the Counsel to the President, and the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget also are invited to
attend any Council meeting. The Secretary of State, the
Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary
of Energy, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy,
and the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy shall be invited
to attend meetings pertaining to their responsibilities. The
heads of other executive departments and agencies and other senior
officials shall be invited to attend Council meetings when
appropriate.
(c) The Council shall meet at
the President's direction. When the President is absent from
a meeting of the Council, at the President's direction the Vice
President may preside. The Assistant to the President for
Homeland Security shall be responsible, at the President's direction,
for determining the agenda, ensuring that necessary papers are
prepared, and recording Council actions and Presidential decisions.
Sec. 6. Original Classification
Authority. I hereby delegate the authority to classify
information originally as Top Secret, in accordance with Executive
Order 12958 or any successor Executive Order, to the Assistant to the
President for Homeland Security.
Sec. 7. Continuing
Authorities. This order does not alter the existing
authorities of United States Government departments and agencies. All
executive departments and agencies are directed to assist the Council
and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security in carrying
out the purposes of this order.
Sec. 8. General Provisions.
(a) This order does not create
any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or
equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies
or instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any other person.
(b) References in this order to
State and local governments shall be construed to include tribal
governments and United States territories and other possessions.
(c) References to the "United
States" shall be construed to include United States territories and
possessions.
Sec. 9. Amendments to Executive
Order 12656. Executive Order 12656 of November 18, 1988, as
amended, is hereby further amended as follows:
(a) Section 101(a) is amended
by adding at the end of the fourth sentence: ", except that
the Homeland Security Council shall be responsible for administering
such policy with respect to terrorist threats and attacks within the
United States."
(b) Section 104(a) is amended
by adding at the end: ", except that the Homeland Security
Council is the principal forum for consideration of policy relating to
terrorist threats and attacks within the United States."
(c) Section 104(b) is amended
by inserting the words "and the Homeland Security Council" after the
words "National Security Council."
(d) The first sentence of
section 104(c) is amended by inserting the words "and the Homeland
Security Council" after the words "National Security Council."
(e) The second sentence of
section 104(c) is replaced with the following two
sentences: "Pursuant to such procedures for the organization
and management of the National Security Council and Homeland Security
Council processes as the President may establish, the Director of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency also shall assist in the
implementation of and management of those processes as the President
may establish. The Director of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency also shall assist in the implementation of national
security emergency preparedness policy by coordinating with the other
Federal departments and agencies and with State and local governments,
and by providing periodic reports to the National Security Council and
the Homeland Security Council on implementation of national security
emergency preparedness policy."
(f) Section 201(7) is amended
by inserting the words "and the Homeland Security Council" after the
words "National Security Council."
(g) Section 206 is amended by
inserting the words "and the Homeland Security Council" after the words
"National Security Council."
(h) Section 208 is amended by
inserting the words "or the Homeland Security Council" after the words
"National Security Council."
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
October 8, 2001.
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