Achieving Efficiency Through State and Local Preparedness
This presidential order prioritizes state, local, and individual roles in national resilience and preparedness.
It directs the review and update of existing federal policies related to critical infrastructure, national continuity, and emergency response using a risk-informed approach.
The order also establishes a National Risk Register to quantify risks to national infrastructure, guiding future investments and budget priorities, and mandates a review of the complex system of national government functions for emergency and crisis response.
Arguments For
Intended Benefits: Enhancing national security and creating a more resilient nation by empowering state and local governments. Improving efficiency and reducing taxpayer burdens through risk-informed decisions. Streamlining federal preparedness operations and improving federal-state-local coordination.
Evidence Cited: The order cites the need for commonsense approaches and investments in infrastructure for national security and resilience. It argues that preparedness is most effectively managed at the state and local levels. The order also implicitly cites evidence in the existence of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Council and various prior executive orders and policy directives that relate to national security and crisis response.
Implementation Methods: The order establishes a timeline for relevant agencies to review and revise critical infrastructure policies, national continuity policies, and preparedness and response policies. It also orders the creation of a National Risk Register and improvements to the framework of national functions around crisis response.
Legal/Historical Basis: The order is based on the President's constitutional authority and the laws of the United States. It utilizes the executive order mechanism, and reviews and modifies existing executive orders and national security memorandums.
Arguments Against
Potential Impacts: The shift to risk-informed approaches may result in unequal resource allocation across regions and hazards, potentially neglecting less-quantifiable risks. The streamlining of federal operations could lead to reduced capacity in some areas. Overreliance on state and local governments could overwhelm their resources and capacity.
Implementation Challenges: Coordination among numerous agencies required in order to achieve objectives, resulting in delays and potential conflicts. Defining and quantifying national risks for the National Risk Register may be complex and politically fraught. The modification of numerous existing federal policies could face resistance from affected agencies and interests.
Alternative Approaches: Maintaining a more centralized federal approach to crisis management, with a stronger emphasis on funding and direct federal intervention and support. Promoting a more collaborative, decentralized model of preparedness that emphasizes shared governance, without necessarily needing the level of top-down policy review implied in this order.
Unintended Effects: The new risk register could lead to an over-emphasis on readily quantifiable risks, inadvertently neglect other significant but less quantifiable vulnerabilities. The order proposes a significant shift in responsibility and decision-making, which could lead to inconsistencies in preparedness efforts across the country.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. Commonsense approaches and investments by State and local governments across American infrastructure will enhance national security and create a more resilient Nation. Federal policy must rightly recognize that preparedness is most effectively owned and managed at the State, local, and even individual levels, supported by a competent, accessible, and efficient Federal Government. Citizens are the immediate beneficiaries of sound local decisions and investments designed to address risks, including cyber attacks, wildfires, hurricanes, and space weather. When States are empowered to make smart infrastructure choices, taxpayers benefit.
This order empowers State, local, and individual preparedness and injects common sense into infrastructure prioritization and strategic investments through risk-informed decisions that make our infrastructure, communities, and economy resilient to global and dynamic threats and hazards.
The order's authority stems from the President's constitutional powers.
Section 1 states that the purpose is to improve national security and resilience through state and local-led efforts.
It highlights the benefits of local infrastructure investment and decision-making, asserting that efficient federal support for states and localities will lead to better outcomes for citizens and taxpayers.
The order aims to promote a more locally owned approach to risk management.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States that State and local governments and individuals play a more active and significant role in national resilience and preparedness, thereby saving American lives, securing American livelihoods, reducing taxpayer burdens through efficiency, and unleashing our collective prosperity. In addition, it is the policy of the United States that my Administration streamline its preparedness operations; update relevant Government policies to reduce complexity and better protect and serve Americans; and enable State and local governments to better understand, plan for, and ultimately address the needs of their citizens.
Section 2 establishes the policy goal of increasing the roles of state and local governments and individuals in preparedness.
This prioritizes saving lives, protecting livelihoods, improving government efficiency, and boosting overall prosperity.
The administration commits to streamlining its operations and updating policies to be less complex.
Sec. 3. Updating Federal Policy to Save Lives and End the Subsidization of Mismanagement. (a) National Resilience Strategy. Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), in coordination with the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and the heads of relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies), shall publish a National Resilience Strategy that articulates the priorities, means, and ways to advance the resilience of the Nation. The National Resilience Strategy shall be reviewed and revised at least every 4 years, or as appropriate.
(b) National Critical Infrastructure Policy. Within 180 days of the date of this order, the APNSA, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the heads of relevant agencies, shall review all critical infrastructure policies and recommend to the President the revisions, recissions, and replacements necessary to achieve a more resilient posture; shift from an all-hazards approach to a risk-informed approach; move beyond information sharing to action; and implement the National Resilience Strategy described in subsection (a) of this section. For purposes of this order, critical infrastructure policies do not include any policies related to purported “misinformation,” “disinformation,” or “malinformation,” nor so-called “cognitive infrastructure,” which should be reevaluated consistent with the policy set forth in Executive Order 14149 of January 20, 2025 (Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship), through a separate process. The policies to be reviewed and recommended for modification, as appropriate, include:
(i) National Security Memorandum 16 of November 10, 2022 (Strengthening the Security and Resilience of United States Food and Agriculture);
(ii) National Security Memorandum 22 of April 30, 2024 (Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience);
(iii) Executive Order 14017 of February 24, 2021 (America’s Supply Chains); and
(iv) Executive Order 14123 of June 14, 2024 (White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience).
(c) National Continuity Policy. Within 180 days of the date of this order, the APNSA, in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies, shall review all national continuity policies and recommend to the President the revisions, recissions, and replacements necessary to modernize and streamline the approach to national continuity capabilities, reformulate the methodology and architecture necessary to achieve an enduring readiness posture, and implement the National Resilience Strategy described in subsection (a) of this section. The policies to be reviewed and recommended for modification, as appropriate, include:
(i) Executive Order 13618 of July 6, 2012 (Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions);
(ii) Executive Order 13961 of December 7, 2020 (Governance and Integration of Federal Mission Resilience);
(iii) National Security Memorandum 32 of January 19, 2025 (National Continuity Policy); and
(iv) Executive Order 14146 of January 19, 2025 (Partial Revocation of Executive Order 13961).
(d) Preparedness and Response Policies. Within 240 days of the date of this order, the APNSA, in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies and informed by the reports and findings of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Council established pursuant to Executive Order 14180 of January 24, 2025 (Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency), shall review all national preparedness and response policies and recommend to the President the revisions, recissions, and replacements necessary to reformulate the process and metrics for Federal responsibility, move away from an all-hazards approach, and implement the National Resilience Strategy described in subsection (a) of this section. The policies to be reviewed and recommended for modification, as appropriate, include:
(i) Executive Order 12656 of November 18, 1988 (Assignment of Emergency Preparedness Responsibilities);
(ii) Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 of February 28, 2003 (Management of Domestic Incidents);
(iii) Presidential Policy Directive 8 of March 30, 2011 (National Preparedness);
(iv) Presidential Policy Directive 22 of March 28, 2013 (National Special Security Events); and
(v) Presidential Policy Directive 44 of November 7, 2016 (Enhancing Domestic Incident Response).
(e) National Risk Register. Within 240 days of the date of this order, the APNSA, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the heads of relevant agencies, shall coordinate the development of a National Risk Register that identifies, articulates, and quantifies natural and malign risks to our national infrastructure, related systems, and their users.
(i) The quantification produced by the National Risk Register shall be used to inform the Intelligence Community, private sector investments, State investments, and Federal budget priorities.
(ii) The National Risk Register shall be reviewed and revised at least every 4 years, or as appropriate, to evolve with the dynamic risk landscape.
(f) Federal National Functions Constructs. The Federal Government organizes national preparedness and continuity through the bureaucratic and complicated lens of overlapping and overbroad “functions,” which include: the National Essential Functions, Primary Mission Essential Functions, National Critical Functions, Emergency Support Functions, Recovery Support Functions, and Community Lifelines. Within 1 year of the date of this order, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall propose changes to the policies outlining this framework and any implementing documents to ensure State and local governments and individuals have improved communications with Federal officials and a better understanding of the Federal role. This proposal shall be coordinated through the process established by National Security Presidential Memorandum 1 of January 20, 2025 (Organization of the National Security Council and Subcommittees), or any successor processes, before being submitted to the President through the APNSA.
Section 3 mandates updates to numerous federal policies to improve preparedness.
Subsection (a) orders the creation of a National Resilience Strategy.
Subsection (b) directs a review of critical infrastructure policies, moving toward risk-informed approaches.
Subsection (c) focuses on reviewing national continuity policies for modernization.
Subsection (d) addresses preparedness and response policies, suggesting a shift from all-hazards to a risk-informed approach.
Subsection (e) directs the creation of a National Risk Register to quantify risks.
Subsection (f) targets the simplification of the complex system of federal emergency response functions.
Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
Section 4 contains general provisions.
Subsection (a) clarifies that the order does not limit existing legal authority of agencies or the OMB's budgetary functions.
Subsection (b) states that implementation is subject to existing laws and available funding.
Subsection (c) makes it clear that no legal rights are created by this order.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE, March 18, 2025.
This is the signature of the president.
The date and location of signing are also included.