Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Veterans Affairs
Signed August 12, 2016·Barack Obama·81 FR 54711
Source
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Plain-language summary
Establishes an order of succession within the Department of Veterans Affairs, listing officials who would act as Secretary of Veterans Affairs if both the Secretary and Deputy Secretary die, resign, or become unable to serve. The order lists ten positions in sequence, starting with the Under Secretary for Health and including the Under Secretary for Benefits, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, Chief of Staff, General Counsel and Assistant Secretaries, the Chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals, and several regional network directors. It bars anyone serving in one of these roles only in an acting capacity from becoming acting Secretary under this order, and requires that anyone stepping in be otherwise eligible under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. The President retains authority to depart from this list when naming an acting Secretary. The order revokes a prior 2001 executive order and parts of a 2002 order, along with two earlier presidential memoranda on the same subject, and states that it creates no enforceable legal rights for outside parties.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
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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, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq. (the “Act”), 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.
The order, in full
Executive Order 13736 of August 12, 2016
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 the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of
1998, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq. (the “Act”),
it is hereby ordered that:
Section 1. Order of Succession. Subject to the
provisions of section 2 of this order and to the
limitations set forth in the Act, the following
officials of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in the
order listed, shall act as Secretary of Veterans
Affairs (Secretary) and perform the functions and
duties of the office of the Secretary during any period
in which both the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary of
Veterans Affairs have died, resigned, or otherwise
become unable to perform the functions and duties of
the office of Secretary:
(a) Under Secretary for Health;
(b) Under Secretary for Benefits;
(c) Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs;
(d) Chief of Staff;
(e) General Counsel and Assistant Secretaries, with
precedence among them in the order, by date, of their
appointments and, if on the same date, in the order in
which they have taken the oath of office;
(f) Chairman, Board of Veterans' Appeals;
(g) Network Director, Veterans Integrated Service
Network 8;
(h) Network Director, Veterans Integrated Service
Network 7;
(i) Director, Southern Area, Veterans Benefits
Administration; and
(j) Network Director, Veterans Integrated Service
Network 19.
Sec. 2. Exceptions. (a) No individual who is serving in
an office listed in section 1(a)-(j) of this order in
an acting capacity shall, by virtue of so serving, act
as Secretary pursuant to this order.
(b) No individual who is serving in an office
listed in section 1(a)-(j) of this order shall act as
Secretary unless that individual is otherwise eligible
to so serve under the Act.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this order,
the President retains discretion, to the extent
permitted by law, to depart from this order in
designating an acting Secretary.
Sec. 3. Revocations. (a) Executive Order 13247 of
December 18, 2001, is hereby revoked;
(b) Section 4(g) of Executive Order 13261 of March
19, 2002, is hereby revoked;
(c) Presidential Memorandum of March 19, 2002
(Designation of Officers of the Department of Veterans
Affairs), is hereby revoked; and
(d) Presidential Memorandum of February 12, 2003
(Designation of Officers of the Department of Veterans
Affairs to Act as Secretary of Veterans Affairs), is
hereby revoked.
Sec. 4. Judicial Review. This order is not intended to,
and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive
or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 12, 2016.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed August 12, 2016. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.