Executive Order 9103 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 9103—Providing Uniform Control Over the Publication and Use of Federal Statistical Information Which Would Give Aid and Comfort to the Enemy

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Wednesday, March 18, 1942

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1 min read (219 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 Franklin D. Roosevelt on 1942-03-18, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Providing Uniform Control Over the Publication and Use of Federal Statistical Information Which Would Give Aid and Comfort to the Enemy." It is a direct, concise executive instruction delivering focused administrative or military commands to department leadership.

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

▪ Statistical data ordinarily released to the public but withheld from general publication during the war shall be released to authorized users in Federal agencies in such manner and under such rules and regulations as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may prescribe.

▪ This section shall not apply to munitions data classified by the Departments of War or Navy or the War Production Board as "secret." FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, March 18, 1942.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Total Words

219

1,354 characters

Estimated Read Time

1 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

22.5

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9103, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Mar 18, 1942). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9103-providing-uniform-control-over-the-publication-and-use-federal.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

By virtue of the authority vested in me by Title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941 (Public Law 354, 77th Congress, 1st Session) approved December 18, 1941; and in order to prevent the publication by Government agencies of statistical information which would lend aid or comfort to the enemy, and at the same time to make available to appropriate Federal officials such information as may be withheld from general publication during the war, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. The Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall maintain a continuous surveillance of governmental publication of statistical data and shall determine in any instance whether the publication of statistical data by any Government agency would be in accordance with governmental policy designed to guard against the unauthorized disclosure of vital information as such policy is formulated by appropriate authority. 2. Statistical data ordinarily released to the public but withheld from general publication during the war shall be released to authorized users in Federal agencies in such manner and under such rules and regulations as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may prescribe. This section shall not apply to munitions data classified by the Departments of War or Navy or the War Production Board as "secret." FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, March 18, 1942.