Executive Order 12036 is a
United States President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United State ...
ial
Executive Order
In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of th ...
signed on January 24, 1978, by President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
that imposed restrictions on and reformed the
U.S. Intelligence Community
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
along with further banning indirect U.S. involvement in
assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...
s. The EO was designed to strengthen and expand
Executive Order 11905
Executive Order 11905 is a United States Presidential Executive Order signed on February 18, 1976, by President Gerald R. Ford in an effort to reform the United States Intelligence Community, improve oversight on foreign intelligence activities, a ...
, which was originally signed by
Gerald R. Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
in 1976.
Background & history
Upon taking office in 1977, President
Jimmy Carter's administration with input from
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
immediately began to revise EO 11905 that was signed late in the previous year. Pressure and the need for reform of the U.S. Intelligence Community still existed from the
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
and
Pike Committee The Pike Committee is the common name for the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during the period when it was chaired by Democratic Representative Otis G. Pike of New York. Under Pike's chairmanship, the committee inv ...
s. EO 12036 would be signed barely a year after Carter took office on January 24, 1978.
The EO was hailed by Senator
Walter D. Huddleston and
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
as having the most input from the President and Congress amongst EOs up until that day. Carter also intended the EO to be temporary until new intelligence reform legislation could be put into law.
EO 12036 would be superseded by new legislation in the future.
Intelligence reform
Executive Order 12036 created new oversight committees and offered many new restrictions on the U.S. Intelligence Community. The EO set-up the duties and requirements of two
National Security Council
A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
-level committees that had been previously created by Carter in 1977. The Policy Review Committee was given the responsibility of defining priorities for intelligence collection and analysis. The Policy Review committee which was chaired by the
Director of Central Intelligence
The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security C ...
(DCI) and also included the
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
,
National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils.
National sec ...
,
Secretary of State,
Secretary of Defense and
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: app ...
would also prioritize intelligence community budget allocations.
The EO replaced Gerald Ford's (EO 11905)
Operations Advisory Group and replaced it with the
Special Coordination Committee which was much like the Policy Review Committee. The EO also imposed a lengthy list of restrictions on the U.S. Intelligence Community to ensure "full compliance with the laws of the United States." One of the main restrictions was that no intelligence operation would be undertaken against a U.S. citizen "unless the President has authorized the type of activity involved and the Attorney General has both approved the particular activity and determined that there is probable cause to believe that the United States person is an agent of a foreign power." This included banning any
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
electronic surveillance in the U.S. and leaving the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
as the only intelligence community member allowed to conduct physical searches within the U.S.
The EO also created the
National Foreign Intelligence Board
The National Intelligence Board (NIB), formerly the National Foreign Intelligence Board and before that the United States Intelligence Board is a body of senior U.S. Intelligence Community leaders currently led by the Director of National Intell ...
(NFIB) in order to assist the DCI with "Production, review, and coordination of national foreign intelligence." The NFIB was chaired by the DCI and included representatives from every agency in the intelligence community. The DCI and agency heads were also expected to keep various congressional committees up to date with intelligence community activity.
The EO also expanded the U.S. ban on assassination by closing "loop-holes" and stating "No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination."
This ban on assassination would be restated in
Executive Order 12333
Executive Order 12333, signed on December 4, 1981 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was an Executive Order intended to extend powers and responsibilities of U.S. intelligence agencies and direct the leaders of U.S. federal agencies to co-operat ...
.
[CRS Report for Congress Assassination Ban and E.O. 12333: A Brief Summary January 4th, 2002]
See also
*
Targeted killing
Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield.
Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and betw ...
References
{{US Intelligence Reform Attempts 1947-2005
American intelligence gathering law
Executive orders of Jimmy Carter
Privacy law in the United States