    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 6 (Monday, February 18, 2008)]
    [Pages 214-215]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Executive Order 13461--Providing an Order of Succession Within the
    Department of Health and Human Services

    February 15, 2008

        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 that:
        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
    perform the functions and duties of the Office of the Secretary of
    Health and Human Services (Secretary), if they are eligible to act as
    Secretary under the provisions of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of
    1998, during any period in which the Secretary has died, resigned, or
    become otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of the
    office of Secretary.
        Sec. 2. Order of Succession.
        (a) Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services;
        (b) General Counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services;
        (c) Assistant Secretary (Resources and Technology);
        (d) Assistant Secretary (Planning and Evaluation);
        (e) Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services;
        (f) Commissioner of Food and Drugs;
        (g) Director of the National Institutes of Health;
        (h) Assistant Secretary for Family Support;
        (i) Other Assistant Secretaries of the Department of Health and
    Human Services appointed by the President, in the order in which they
    shall have taken the oath of office as such;
        (j) Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and
        (k) Director, Region 4.
        Sec. 3. Exceptions.
        (a) No individual who is serving in an office listed in section 2 of
    this order in an acting capacity, by virtue of so serving, shall act as
    Secretary pursuant to this order.

    [[Page 215]]

        (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this order, the President
    retains discretion, consistent with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of
    1998, to depart from this order in designating an acting Secretary.
        Sec. 4. Revocation. Executive Order 13250 of December 28, 2001
    (Providing An Order of Succession Within the Department of Health and
    Human Services), and the President's memorandum of March 19, 2002
    (Designation of Officers of the Department of Health and Human
    Services), are hereby revoked.
                                                    George W. Bush
     The White House,
     February 15, 2008.

     [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:50 a.m., February 19,
    2008]

    Note: This Executive order will be published in the Federal Register on
    February 20.