APPENDIX 1-A.-PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE AND TEXT OF REORGANIZATION JANUARY 26, 1973.-Message and accompanying papers referred to the U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1973 (97) To the Congress of the United States: On January 5 I announced a three-part program to streamline the executive branch of the Federal Government. By concentrating less responsibility in the President's immediate staff and more in the hands of the departments and agencies, this program should significantly improve the services of the Government. I believe these reforms have become so urgently necessary that I intend, with the cooperation of the Congress, to pursue them with all of the resources of my office during the coming year. The first part of this program is a renewed drive to achieve passage of my legislative proposals to overhaul the Cabinet departments. Secondly, I have appointed three Cabinet Secretaries as Counsellors to the President with coordinating responsibilities in the broad areas of human resources, natural resources, and community development, and five Assistants to the President with special responsibilities in the areas of domestic affairs, economic affairs, foreign affairs, executive management, and operations of the White House. The third part of this program is a sharp reduction in the overall size of the Executive Office of the President and a reorientation of that office back to its original mission as a staff for top-level policy formation and monitoring of policy execution in broad.functional areas. The Executive Office of the President should no longer be encumbered with the task of managing or administering programs which can be run more effectively by the departments and agencies. I have therefore concluded that a number of specialized operational and program functions should be shifted out of the Executive Office into the line departments and agencies of the Government. Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1973, transmitted herewith, would effect such changes with respect to emergency preparedness functions and scientific and technological affairs. STREAMLINING THE FEDERAL SCIENCE ESTABLISHMENT When the National Science Foundation was established by an act of the Congress in 1950, its statutory responsibilities included evaluation of the Government's scientific research programs and development of basic science policy. In the late 1950's, however, with the effectiveness of the U.S. science effort under serious scrutiny as a result of Sputnik, the post of Science Adviser to the President was established. The White House became increasingly involved in the evaluation and coordination of research and development programs and in science policy matters, and that involvement was institutionalized in 1962 when a reorganization plan established the Office of Science and Technology within the Executive Office of the President, through transfer of authorities formerly vested in the National Science Foundation. With advice and assistance from OST during the past decade, the scientific and technological capability of the Government has been (II) H. Doc. 43, 93-1 III markedly strengthened. This Administration is firmly committed to a sustained, broad-based national effort in science and technology, as I made plain last year in the first special message on the subject ever sent by a President to the Congress. The research and development capability of the various executive departments and agencies, civilian as well as defense, has been upgraded. The National Science Foundation has broadened from its earlier concentration on basic research support to take on a significant role in applied research as well. It has matured in its ability to play a coordinating and evaluative role within the Government and between the public and private sectors. I have therefore concluded that it is timely and appropriate to transfer to the Director of the National Science Foundation all functions presently vested in the Office of Science and Technology, and to abolish that office. Reorganization Plan No. 1 would effect these changes. The multi-disciplinary staff resources of the Foundation will provide analytic capabilities for performance of the transferred functions. In addition, the Director of the Foundation will be able to draw on expertise from all of the Federal agencies, as well as from outside the Government, for assistance in carrying out his new responsibilities. It is also my intention, after the transfer of responsibilities is effected, to ask Dr. H. Guy ford Stever, the current Director of the Foundation, to take on the additional post of Science Adviser. In this capacity, he would advise and assist the White House, Office of Management and Budget, Domestic Council, and other entities within the Executive Office of the President on matters where scientific and technological expertise is called for, and would act as the President's representative in selected cooperative programs in international scientific affairs, including chairing such joint bodies as the U.S.U.S.S.R. Joint Commission on Scientific and Technical Cooperation. In the case of national security, the Department of Defense has strong capabilities for assessing weapons needs and for undertaking new weapons development, and the President will continue to draw primarily on this source for advice regarding military technology. The President in special situations also may seek independent studies or assessments concerning military technology from within or outside the Federal establishment using the machinery of the National Security Council for this purpose, as well as the Science Adviser when appropriate. In one special area of technology-space and aeronautics-a_coordinating council has existed within the Executive Office of the President since 1958. This body, the National Aeronautics and Space Council, met a major need during the evolution of our nation's space program. Vice President Agnew has served with distinction as its chairman for the past four years. At my request, beginning in 1969, the Vice President also chaired a special Space Task Group charged with developing strategy alternatives for a balanced U.S. space program in the coming years. As a result of this work, basic policy issues in the United States space effort have been resolved, and the necessary interagency relationships have been established. I have therefore concluded, with H. Doc. 43, 93-1 IV the Vice President's concurrence, that the Council can be discontinued. Needed policy coordination can now be achieved through the resources of the executive departments and agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, augmented by some of the former Council staff. Accordingly, my reorganization plan proposes the abolition of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. A NEW APPROACH TO EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS The organization within the Executive Office of the President which has been known in recent years as the Office of Emergency Preparedness dates back, through its numerous predecessor agencies, more than 20 years. It has performed valuable functions in developing plans for emergency preparedness, in administering Federal disaster relief, and in overseeing and assisting the agencies in this area. OEP's work as a coordinating and supervisory authority in this field has in fact been so effective particularly under the leadership of General George A. Lincoln, its director for the past four years, who retired earlier this month after an exceptional military and public service career--that the line departments and agencies which in the past have shared in the performance of the various preparedness functions now possess the capability to assume full responsibility for those functions. In the interest of efficiency and economy, we can now further streamline the Executive Office of the President by formally relocating those responsibilities and closing the Office of Emergency Preparedness. I propose to accomplish this reform in two steps. First, Reorganization Plan No. 1 would transfer to the President all functions previously vested by law in the Office or its Director, except the Director's role as a member of the National Security Council, which would be abolished; and it would abolish the Office of Emergency Preparedness. The functions to be transferred to the President from OEP are largely incidental to emergency authorities already vested in him. They include functions under the Disaster Relief Act of 1970; the function of determining whether a major disaster has occurred within the meaning of (1) Section 7 of the Act of September 30, 1950, as amended, 20 U.S.C. 241-1, or (2) Section 762 (a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as added by Section 161 (a) of the Education Amendments of 1972, Public Law 92-318, 86 Stat. 288 at 299 (relating to the furnishing by the Commissioner of Education of disaster relief assistance for educational purposes); and functions under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862), with respect to the conduct of investigations to determine the effects on national security of the importation of certain articles. The Civil Defense Advisory Council within OEP would also be abolished by this plan, as changes in domestic and international conditions since its establishment in 1950 have now obviated the need for a standing council of this type. Should advice of the kind the Council has provided be required again in the future, State and local officials and experts in the field can be consulted on an ad hoc basis. Secondly, as soon as the plan became effective, I would delegate H. Doc. 43, 93–1 |