[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 19 (Monday, May 13, 2002)]
[Page 776]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Memorandum on Designation of Officers of the Department of the Interior

March 19, 2002

Memorandum for the Secretary of the Interior

Subject: Designation of Officers of the Department of the Interior

    By the authority vested in me as President under the Constitution 
and the laws of the United States of America and pursuant to the Federal 
Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., I hereby order 
that:
    Section 1. Order of Succession.
    During any period when the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary), 
the Deputy Secretary of the Interior, and the officers designated by 
Executive Order 13244 of December 18, 2001, to perform the functions and 
duties of the office of Secretary have died, resigned, or otherwise 
become unable to perform the functions and duties of the office of 
Secretary, the following officers of the Department of the Interior, in 
the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such, 
shall perform the functions and duties of the office of Secretary, if 
they are eligible to act as Secretary under the provisions of the 
Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, until such time as at least one of 
the officers mentioned above is able to perform the functions and duties 
of the office of Secretary:
    Director, U.S. Geological Survey;
    Director of the National Park Service;
    Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service;
    Commissioner of Reclamation;
    Director, Minerals Management Service;
    Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
      Enforcement;
    Director of the Bureau of Land Management; and
    Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs.
    Sec. 2. Exceptions.
    (a) No individual who is serving in an office listed in section 1 in 
an acting capacity, by virtue of so serving, shall act as Secretary 
pursuant to this memorandum.
    (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this memorandum, the President 
retains discretion, to the extent permitted by the Federal Vacancies 
Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., to depart from this 
memorandum in designating an acting Secretary.
                                                George W. Bush

Note: This memorandum was released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
on May 9. An original was not available for verification of the content 
of this memorandum.