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Every President • 1789 to Present

Executive Order 11490 Constitutional Friction / Overreach (-0.55)

Executive Order 11490—Assigning Emergency Preparedness Functions to Federal Departments and Agencies

Tuesday, October 28, 1969
86 min read (17,112 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

This executive order, signed by President Richard Nixon on 1969-10-28, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Assigning Emergency Preparedness Functions to Federal Departments and Agencies." It is an expansive, comprehensive regulatory directive mandating coordinated enforcement, detailed procedural standards, and formal agency compliance benchmarks across multiple federal departments.

Constitutional Assessment: Scrutinized through Article II, Section 2, this action exercises the President's constitutional role as Commander in Chief. Early Framers recognized broad executive discretion in commanding military forces during conflict, provided it remains bounded by congressional declarations and respects civilian domestic courts.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

The continuity of Government activities undertaken by the departments and agencies shall be in accordance with guidance provided by, and subject to evaluation by, the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness.
11051 of September 27, 1962, shall advise and assist the President in determining national preparedness goals and policies for the performance of functions under this order and in coordinating the performance of such functions with the total national preparedness program.
The Secretary of State shall prepare national emergency plans and develop preparedness programs to permit modification or expansion of the activities of the Department of State and agencies, boards, and commissions under his jurisdiction in order to meet all conditions of national emergency, including attack upon the United States.
The Secretary of State shall provide to all other departments and agencies overall foreign policy direction, coordination, and supervision in the formulation and execution of those emergency preparedness activities which have foreign policy implications, affect foreign relations, or depend directly or indirectly, on the policies and capabilities of the Department of State.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
Total Words
17,112
120,356 characters
Estimated Read Time
86 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
18.2
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
-0.55
Framers' Alignment index
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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 11490, Richard Nixon (Oct 28, 1969). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11490-assigning-emergency-preparedness-functions-federal-departments-and.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)