    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
    [September 29, 2006]
    [Pages 1733-1734]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2007
    September 29, 2006

        Today, I have signed into law H.R. 5631, the ``Department of Defense
    Appropriations Act, 2007.'' The Act appropriates the funds needed to
    fight the war on terror, advance other United States interests around
    the world, and support our Armed Forces. The Act also continues funding
    for Government programs for which the Congress has not yet enacted
    regular appropriations acts.
        Sections 8007, 8084, and 9005 of the Act prohibit the use of funds
    to initiate a special access program or a new start program, unless the
    congressional defense committees receive advance notice. The Supreme
    Court of the United States has stated that the President's authority to
    classify and control access to information bearing on the national
    security flows from the Constitution and does not depend upon a
    legislative grant of authority. Although the advance notice contemplated
    by sections 8007, 8084, and 9005 can be provided in most situations as a
    matter of comity, situations may arise, especially in wartime, in which
    the President must act promptly under his constitutional grants of
    executive power and authority as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces
    while protecting certain extraordinarily sensitive national security
    information. The executive branch shall construe these sections in a
    manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President.
        Section 8050 of the Act provides that, notwithstanding any other
    provision of law, no funds available to the Department of Defense for
    fiscal year 2007 may be used to transfer defense articles or services,
    other than intelligence services, to another nation or an international
    organization for international peacekeeping, peace enforcement, or
    humanitarian assistance operations, until 15 days after the executive
    branch notifies six committees of the Congress of the planned transfer.
    To the extent that protection of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed for
    international peacekeeping, peace enforcement, or humanitarian
    assistance operations might require action of a kind covered by section
    8050 sooner than 15 days after notification, the executive branch shall
    construe the section in a manner consistent with the President's
    constitutional authority as Commander in Chief.
        A proviso in the Act's appropriation for ``Operation and
    Maintenance, Defense-Wide'' purports to prohibit planning for
    consolidation of certain offices within the Department of Defense. Also,
    sections 8010(b), 8032(b), and 8089 purport to specify the content of
    portions of future budget requests to the Congress. The executive branch
    shall construe these provisions relating to planning and making of
    budget recommendations in a manner consistent with the President's
    constitutional authority to require the opinions of the heads of
    departments, to supervise the unitary executive branch, and to recommend
    for congressional consideration such measures as the President shall
    judge necessary and expedient.
        Section 8005 of the Act, relating to requests to congressional
    committees for reprogramming of funds, shall be construed

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    as calling solely for notification, as any other construction would be
    inconsistent with the constitutional principles enunciated by the
    Supreme Court of the United States in INS v. Chadha.
        The executive branch shall construe section 8093, relating to
    integration of foreign intelligence information, in a manner consistent
    with the President's constitutional authority as Commander in Chief,
    including for the conduct of intelligence operations, and to supervise
    the unitary executive branch. Also, the executive branch shall construe
    sections 8095 and 8101 of the Act, which purport to prohibit the
    President from altering command and control relationships within the
    Armed Forces, as advisory, as any other construction would be
    inconsistent with the constitutional grant to the President of the
    authority of Commander in Chief.
        The executive branch shall construe provisions of the Act relating
    to race, ethnicity, gender, and State residency, such as sections 8013,
    8018 and 8048, in a manner consistent with the requirement to afford
    equal protection of the laws under the Due Process Clause of the
    Constitution's Fifth Amendment.
        Sections 8039 and 8064 of the Act purport to allocate funds for
    specified purposes as set forth in the joint explanatory statement of
    managers that accompanied the Act and to direct compliance with a
    classified annex which was not incorporated into the Act and for which
    presentment was not made. The executive branch shall construe all these
    provisions in a manner consistent with the bicameral passage and
    presentment requirements of the Constitution for the making of a law.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     September 29, 2006.

    Note: H.R. 5631, approved September 29, was assigned Public Law No. 109-
    289.