A presidential memorandum is a type of directive issued by the president of the United States to manage and govern the actions, practices, and policies of the various departments and agencies found under the executive branch of the United States government. It has the force of law and is usually used to delegate tasks, direct specific government agencies to do something, or to start a regulatory process. [1] There are three types of presidential memoranda: presidential determination or presidential finding, memorandum of disapproval, and hortatory memorandum. [2]
Sometimes used interchangeably, an executive order is a more prestigious form of executive action that must cite the specific constitutional or statutory authority the president has to use it. [1] Unlike executive orders, memoranda are not required by law to be published in the Federal Register , but publication is necessary in order to have "general applicability and legal effect". [3] The Federal Register gives publication priority to executive orders and presidential proclamations over memoranda. [4] Memoranda can be amended or rescinded by executive orders or another memorandum, but executive orders take legal precedence and cannot be changed by a memorandum. [3]
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In the past, presidential memoranda have been referred to as presidential letters. [2]
| President | Number Issued |
|---|---|
| Barack Obama | 644 [5] |
| Donald Trump (as of January 6,2020 [update] ) | 167 [6] |
Presidential determination, or presidential finding, are memoranda required by a statute and must be issued before certain actions are taken. For example, a presidential determination on the status of a country must be released before sanctions are imposed on the country. [2]
A memorandum of disapproval is a public veto statement. [2]
A hortatory memorandum is issued as a broad policy statement, but unlike a presidential proclamation is directed to executive agencies. [2]
In 2017, President Donald Trump changed the national security directives to national security presidential memorandum. They operate like executive orders, but are only in the area of national security. They date back to President Harry S. Truman and have been called many different names. [7]
An executive order is a means of issuing federal directives in the United States, used 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 the United States Constitution gives the president broad executive and enforcement authority to use his or her discretion to determine how to enforce the law or to otherwise manage the resources and staff of the executive branch. The ability to make such orders is also based on expressed or implied Acts of Congress that delegate to the president some degree of discretionary power.
Executive actions of the CIA are directives issued to the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States.
National security directives are presidential directives issued for the National Security Council (NSC). Starting with Harry Truman, every president since the founding of the National Security Council in 1947 has issued national security directives in one form or another, which have involved foreign, military and domestic policies. National security directives are generally highly classified and are available to the public only after "a great many years" have elapsed. Unlike executive orders, national security directives are usually directed only to the National Security Council and the most senior executive branch officials, and embody foreign and military policy-making guidance rather than specific instructions.
Executive Order 12170 was issued by American president Jimmy Carter on November 14, 1979, ten days after the Iran hostage crisis had started. The executive order, empowered under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, ordered the freezing of all Iranian government assets held within the United States.
A Presidential Determination is a kind of presidential directive issued by the White House stating a determination resulting in an official policy or position of the executive branch of the United States federal government. Presidential determinations may involve any number of actions, including setting or changing foreign policy, setting drug enforcement policy, or any number of other exercises of executive power.
Executive Order 13766 is the second executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Signed on January 24, 2017, this order establishes a new system by which to fast-track the construction of infrastructure projects.
National Day of Patriotic Devotion, 2017 was the first Presidential proclamation signed by President Donald Trump.
A presidential directive, or executive action, is a written or oral instruction or declaration issued by the president of the United States, which may draw upon the powers vested in the president by the U.S. Constitution, statutory law, or, in certain cases, congressional and judicial acquiescence. Such directives, which have been issued since the earliest days of the federal government, have become known by various names, and some have prescribed forms and purposes. Presidential directives remain in effect until they are revoked, which the president is free to do. The classification of presidential directives is not easily done, as the distinction between the types can be quite arbitrary, arising from convenience and bureaucratic evolution, and none are defined in the Constitution. Furthermore, the different types may overlap. As one legal scholar put it: "it is a bit misleading to overclassify presidential directives as comprising separate and distinct 'types' just because they have different headings at the top of the first page". In terms of legal applicability, what matters is the substance of the directive, not the form, unless a certain kind of directive is specifically required by relevant statute.
The space policy of the Donald Trump administration, as of December 2020, comprises five Space Policy Directives and an announced "National Space Strategy", representing a directional shift from the policy priorities and goals of his predecessor, Barack Obama. A National Space Policy was issued on December 9, 2020.
Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs) are draft classified orders created by the President of the United States to exercise or expand powers in the declaration of an emergency for various hypothetical worst-case scenarios. They are defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as the "Final drafts of Presidential messages, proposed legislation proclamations, and other formal documents, including DOJ-issued cover sheets addressed to the President, to be issued in event of a Presidentially-declared national emergency."
Ending Discriminatory Bans on Entry to The United States was the second presidential proclamation signed by President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. The proclamation revoked Executive Order 13780, titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, which had been signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on March 6, 2017, and Proclamations 9645, 9723, and 9983.