[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 51 (Monday, December 26, 2005)]
[Pages 1910-1911]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 13394--Providing an Order of Succession Within the 
Department of Defense

December 22, 2005

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, including the Federal 
Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et. seq., it is hereby 
ordered as follows:
    Section 1. Subject to the provisions of section 3 of this order, the 
officers named in section 2, in the order listed, shall act as and

[[Page 1911]]

perform the functions and duties of the office of the Secretary of 
Defense (Secretary) during any period when the Secretary has died, 
resigned, or is otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of 
the office of Secretary.
    Sec. 2. Order of Succession.
    (a) Deputy Secretary of Defense;
    (b) Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence;
    (c) Under Secretary of Defense for Policy;
    (d) Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and 
Logistics;
    (e) Secretary of the Army;
    (f) Secretary of the Air Force;
    (g) Secretary of the Navy;
    (h) Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness and the 
Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller);
    (i) Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and 
Technology, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Deputy 
Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness;
    (j) General Counsel of the Department of Defense, the Assistant 
Secretaries of Defense, and the Director of Operational Test and 
Evaluation;
    (k) Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Material 
Readiness and the Director of Defense Research and Engineering;
    (l) Under Secretaries of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force; and
    (m) Assistant Secretaries of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, 
and General Counsels of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force.
    Sec. 3. Exceptions. (a) No individual who is serving in an office 
listed in section 2(a)-(m) in an acting capacity shall act as Secretary 
pursuant to this order.
    (b) Precedence among officers designated within the same subsection 
of section 2 of this order shall be determined by the order in which 
they have been appointed to such office by the President. Where officers 
designated within the same subsection of section 2 of this order are 
appointed on the same date, precedence will be determined by the order 
in which they have taken the oath to serve in that office.
    (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this order, the President 
retains discretion, to the extent permitted by law, to depart from this 
order in designating an acting Secretary.
    Sec. 4. Judicial Review. This order is intended to improve the 
internal management of the executive branch and 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.
    Sec. 5. Revocation. Executive Order No. 13000 of April 24, 1996, and 
the President's memorandum of June 2, 2005, entitled: ``Order of 
Succession of Officers to Act as Secretary of Defense,'' are hereby 
revoked.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 December 22, 2005.

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:29 p.m., December 
23, 2005]

Note: This Executive order will be published in the Federal Register on 
December 27.