Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Veterans Affairs
Signed December 18, 2001·George W. Bush·66 FR 66271
Source
Everything on this page is drawn from the Federal Register, the official daily journal of the United States government. Where this page and the source disagree, the source governs.
Plain-language summary
Sets the order in which officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs act as Secretary if both the Secretary and Deputy Secretary have died, resigned, or become unable to serve. The succession order runs through the Under Secretaries for Health, Benefits, and Memorial Affairs, the General Counsel, Assistant Secretaries (ranked by when they took office, excluding the Chief Financial Officer and, if applicable, the Chief Information Officer), the Chief Information Officer if Senate-confirmed, the Chief Financial Officer, and finally the Chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals. Officials serving in any of these positions only in an acting capacity are excluded from acting as Secretary under this order. The President retains authority, within legal limits, to depart from this order when designating an acting Secretary.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
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Legal standing
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Claimed authority
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including Subchapter III of Chapter 33 of title 5 of the United States Code, it is hereby ordered
Quoted from the order as written. Many orders cite nothing more specific than “the Constitution and the laws”; this reproduces what the order claims, not an assessment of whether it holds.
Disposition
Amended by: EO 13261, March 19, 2002;; ; See: Memorandum of February 12, 2003 (68 FR 10141)
Compiled after the fact by the National Archives, so recent orders often have none yet. An empty disposition means no record, not no activity.
The order, in full
Executive Order 13247 of December 18, 2001
Providing an Order of Succession Within the
Department of Veterans Affairs
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including Subchapter III of Chapter 33 of
title 5 of the United States Code, it is hereby ordered
that:
Sec. 1. Subject to the provisions of section 3 of this
Executive Order, the officers named in section 2, in
the order listed, shall act as and perform the
functions and duties of the office of Secretary of
Veterans Affairs (Secretary) during any period when
both the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary of Veterans
Affairs (Deputy Secretary) have died, resigned, or are
otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of
the office of Secretary.
Sec. 2. Order of Succession.
(a) Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health;
(b) Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for
Benefits;
(c) Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for
Memorial Affairs;
(d) General Counsel of the Department of Veterans
Affairs;
(e) Assistant Secretaries of Veterans Affairs, in
the order in which they shall have taken the oath of
office as Assistant Secretaries, other than the Chief
Financial Officer and, if an Assistant Secretary, the
Chief Information Officer;
(f) Chief Information Officer of the Department of
Veterans Affairs, if the Chief Information Officer is
an officer appointed by the President by and with the
consent of the Senate;
(g) Chief Financial Officer of the Department of
Veterans Affairs; and
(h) Chairman, Board of Veterans' Appeals.
Sec. 3. Exceptions.
(a) No individual who is serving in an office
listed in section 2(a)-(h) in an acting capacity shall
act as Secretary pursuant to this Executive Order.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this
Executive Order, the President retains discretion, to
the extent permitted by Subchapter III of Chapter
33 of title 5 of the United States Code, to depart from
this Executive Order in designating an acting
Secretary.
(Presidential Sig.)B
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 18, 2001.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed December 18, 2001. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.