Amending the Order of Succession in the Department of Homeland Security
Signed August 13, 2007·George W. Bush·72 FR 45877
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
Amends Executive Order 13286 to reset the order of succession within the Department of Homeland Security, listing seventeen officials who would act as Secretary of Homeland Security, in order, if the Secretary dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to serve. The list runs from the Deputy Secretary through various under secretaries, the General Counsel, agency heads including the Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director, down to several regional Federal Emergency Management Agency administrators. It specifies that officials already serving in an acting capacity in a listed office cannot become acting Secretary through this order, and preserves the President's authority under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 to designate a different acting Secretary. It also revokes Executive Order 13362, which had previously designated additional officers for this succession order.
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 the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345, et seq., 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
Amends: EO 13286, February 28, 2003; Revokes: EO 13362, November 29, 2004
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 13442 of August 13, 2007
Amending the Order of Succession in the
Department of Homeland Security
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of
1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345, et seq., it is hereby ordered as
follows:
Section 1. Section 88 of Executive Order 13286 of
February 28, 2003 (“Amendment of Executive Orders, and
Other Actions, in Connection With the Transfer of
Certain Functions to the Secretary of Homeland
Security”), is amended by striking the text of such
section in its entirety and inserting the following in
lieu thereof:
“Sec. 88. Order of Succession.
Subject to the provisions of subsection (b) of this
section, the officers named in subsection (a) of this
section, in the order listed, shall act as, and perform
the functions and duties of the office of, the
Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary), if they are
eligible to act as Secretary under the provisions of
the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345
et seq. (Vacancies Act), during any period in which the
Secretary has died, resigned, or otherwise become
unable to perform the functions and duties of the
office of Secretary.
(a) Order of Succession.
”(i) Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security;
(ii) Under Secretary for National Protection and Programs;
(iii) Under Secretary for Management;
(iv) Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Policy);
(v) Under Secretary for Science and Technology;
(vi) General Counsel;
(vii) Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Transportation Security
Administration);
(viii) Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
(ix) Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection;
(x) Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement);
(xi) Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services;
(xii) Chief Financial Officer;
(xiii) Regional Administrator, Region V, Federal Emergency Management
Agency;
(xiv) Regional Administrator, Region VI, Federal Emergency Management
Agency;
(xv) Regional Administrator, Region VII, Federal Emergency Management
Agency;
(xvi) Regional Administrator, Region IX, Federal Emergency Management
Agency; and
(xvii) Regional Administrator, Region I, Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
“(b) Exceptions.
(i) No individual who is serving in an office listed in subsection (a) in
an acting capacity, by virtue of so serving, shall act as Secretary
pursuant to this section.
(ii) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the President retains
discretion, to the extent permitted by the Vacancies Act, to depart from
this order in designating an acting Secretary.”
Sec. 2. Executive Order 13362 of November 29, 2004
(“Designation of Additional Officers for the
Department of Homeland Security Order of Succession”),
is hereby revoked.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 13, 2007.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed August 13, 2007. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.