Been keeping up with President Obama have you?
Here's a few things you probably missed:
Executive Order Amendment to Executive Order 13462
The previous language read:
(b) inform the President of intelligence activities that the IOB believes:
(i)(A) may be unlawful or contrary to Executive Order or presidential directive; and
(B) are not being adequately addressed by the Attorney General, the DNI, or the head of the department concerned; or
(ii) should be immediately reported to the President.
President Bush's Intelligence Oversight Board,was ordered to inform the President (Dick Cheney) of any illegal activities the intelligence agencies perform. This altered the longstanding policy put in place after the Church Committee investigations that required the board to:
oversee the general counsel and inspector general of each U.S. intelligence agency, and erased the requirement that each inspector general file a report with the IOB every three months.
The new language, going beyond the original mandate, says:
"(c) forward to the Attorney General information concerning intelligence activities that involve possible violations of Federal criminal laws or otherwise implicate the authority of the Attorney General;", and renumbering the subsequent subsections of section 6 accordingly.
The members of the board are civilians outside government appointed to check the intelligence agencies for engaging in activities that violate either the policy or law of the United States. This particular executive order has the force of law since it was made pursuant to an act of Congress. Not all executive orders do - some proceed directly from the President's Constitutional powers. Therefore, it is now against the law for a civilian appointed to this board not to inform the Attorney General when they learn of illegal activities performed by the intelligence agencies.
President Obama also extended for one year the emergency powers invoked by President Bush under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after 9/11. These powers allow the President to:
block transactions and freeze assets to deal with the threat. In the event of an actual attack on the United States, the president can also confiscate property connected with a country, group, or person that aided in the attack.
The President continued authorization to interdict aircraft suspected of drug trafficking in Colombia:
Pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 1012 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2291-4), I hereby certify, with respect to Colombia, that (1) interdiction of aircraft reasonably suspected to be primarily engaged in illicit drug trafficking in that country's airspace is necessary, because of the extraordinary threat posed by illicit drug trafficking to the national security of that country; and (2) that country has appropriate procedures in place to protect against innocent loss of life in the air and on the ground in connection with such interdiction, which shall at a minimum include effective means to identify and warn an aircraft before the use of force is directed against the aircraft.
The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to publish this determination in the Federal Register and to notify the Congress of this determination.
BARACK OBAMA
Why? I dunno.
Perhaps the most far reaching Executive Order the President has issued so far is is the latest on government contractors and whistleblower information:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in the interest of reducing payment errors and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal programs, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Some of the highlights:
(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury in coordination with the Attorney General and the Director of OMB, shall publish on the Internet information about improper payments under high-priority programs. The information shall include, subject to Federal privacy policies and to the extent permitted by law:
(i) the names of the accountable officials designated under section 3 of this order;
(ii) current and historical rates and amounts of improper payments, including, where known and appropriate, causes of the improper payments;
(iii) current and historical rates and amounts of recovery of improper payments, where appropriate (or, where improper payments are identified solely on the basis of a sample, recovery rates and amounts estimated on the basis of the applicable sample);
(iv) targets for reducing as well as recovering improper payments, where appropriate; and
(v) the entities that have received the greatest amount of outstanding improper payments (or, where improper payments are identified solely on the basis of a sample, the entities that have received the greatest amount of outstanding improper payments in the applicable sample).
Information on entities that have received the greatest amount of outstanding improper payments shall not include any referrals the agency made or anticipates making to the Department of Justice, or any information provided in connection with such referrals.
My GOD! Some federal bureaucrat is going to have his name plastered all over the internet for being attached to government waste and abuse. I'm surprised this won't get some sort of court challenge from AFSCME. Thats a very far reaching provision! I can't wait to see how this is implemented in six months.
And guess what? You learn of something fishy going on, you'll be able to post it up on a central government website for the press to consume:
(c) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury in coordination with the Attorney General and the Director of OMB and in consultation with the CIGIE, shall establish a central Internet-based method to collect from the public information concerning suspected incidents of waste, fraud, and abuse by an entity receiving Federal funds that have led or may lead to improper payments by the Federal Government.
(d) Agencies shall place a prominently displayed link to Internet-based resources for addressing improper payments, including the resources established under subsections (b) and (c) of this section, on their Internet home pages.
I hope they call it "whistleblower.gov".