    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 40 (Monday, October 4, 2004)]
    [Pages 2172-2173]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Executive Order 13358--Assignment of Functions Relating to Certain
    Appointments, Promotions, and Commissions in the Armed Forces

    September 28, 2004

        By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
    the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title
    3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:
        Section 1. Assignment of Functions to the Secretary of Defense. The
    Secretary of Defense shall perform, except with respect to the Coast
    Guard during any period in which it is not operating as a service in the
    Navy, the functions of the President under the following provisions of
    title 10, United States Code:
     (a)         subsection 1521(a);
     (b)         the first sentence of subsection 12203(a);
     (c)         the first sentence of subsection 14111(a), except with
                respect to reports relating to the grades of brigadier
                general or above, or rear admiral (lower half) or above; and
     (d)         subsection 14310(a), except with respect to removals
                relating to a promotion list for grades of brigadier general
                or above, or rear admiral (lower half) or above.
        Sec. 2. Assignment of Functions to the Secretary of Homeland
    Security. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall perform, with respect
    to the Coast Guard during any period in which it is not operating as a
    service in the Navy, the functions assigned to the President by the
    following provisions of the United States Code:
     (a)         subsection 1521(a) of title 10;
     (b)         the first sentence of subsection 12203(a) of title 10;
     (c)         subsection 729(g) of title 14, except with respect to
                approval of, or removal of a name from, a report relating to
                the grades of rear admiral (lower half) or above; and
     (d)         subsection 738(a) of title 14, except with respect to
                removals relating to a promotion list for grades of rear
                admiral (lower half) or above.
        Sec. 3. Reassignment of Functions Assigned. The Secretary of Defense
    and the Secretary of Homeland Security may reassign the functions
    assigned to them by this order to civilian officers, within their
    respective departments, who hold a position for which the President
    makes an appointment by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
    except that the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland
    Security may not reassign the functions assigned by sections 1(b) and
    2(b), respectively. The Secretary of Defense may not reassign the
    function assigned by section 1(c) of this order except to such an
    officer within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (as defined in
    section 131(b) of title 10).
        Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) This order shall take effect on
    October 1, 2004.
     (b)         Nothing in this order shall be construed to limit or
                otherwise affect the authority of the President as Commander
                in Chief of the Armed Forces

    [[Page 2173]]

                of the United States, or under the Constitution and laws of
                the United States to nominate or to make or terminate
                appointments.
     (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, entities, officers, employees or
                agents, or any other person.
                                                    George W. Bush
     The White House,
     September 28, 2004.

     [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:31 a.m., September
    29, 2004]

    Note: This Executive order was published in the Federal Register on
    September 30.