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These go back at least to the time of President Richard M. But these low numbers conceal the fact that many executive orders have been amended by number or letter extensions thus: xxxx-A, xxxx-B, and so on.Īmong the executive orders of significance to the intelligence community are those dealing with classification and declassification of national security information. Bush froze terrorist organization assets in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks is only 13224. The actual numbers designating the orders are relatively low: for example, that of the order by which President George W. President Theodore Roosevelt initiated the practice of issuing executive orders at the beginning of the twentieth century, and their numbers grew with each successive administration, until by the early twenty-first century they numbered more than 50,000. Both types of rules, along with directives from various security agencies, provide the guidelines by which the United States intelligence community operates.Įxecutive orders. Presidential directives are classified, and thus the public is not even aware of their content. Executive orders are unclassified, and in practice carry the force of law, though they remain controversial inasmuch as they amount to government by virtual edict. Executive Orders and Presidential DirectivesĮxecutive orders and presidential directives, as their name suggests, come from the president of the United States.
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