Technology and cybersecurity

Executive Order 14056: The National Space Council

President: Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Continued the cabinet-level National Space Council, revised its membership and charged it with coordinating civil, commercial, national-security and international space policy.

Status: Revoked.

Is Executive Order 14056 still in effect? No. EO 14369, signed December 18, 2025, section 4(a), expressly superseded and revoked it. That order did not expressly restore the earlier EO 13803 or EO 13906 charters.

People meet around a globe and orbital diagrams beneath space, research and White House motifs.
National Space Council coordination, illustrated symbolically; not a photograph of a council meeting or an approved mission plan. EO Explained · site-generated editorial illustration · not documentary evidence.

What does Executive Order 14056 do?

The Vice President chaired the council, whose members were assigned interagency coordination rather than authority to issue permits themselves.

Later primary evidence reviewed September 24, 2026: EO 14369 expressly revoked this order. Official source. The cited steps do not establish every downstream effect.

Administration position: The order’s findings and policy rationale were the Biden administration’s positions. This guide distinguishes them from implementation records and judicial rulings.

The replacement charter broadened the Council’s membership, including Interior, Agriculture, Labor, Energy, Education and the National Climate Advisor alongside the national-security, science and economic participants. The Council coordinated recommendations and implementation across agencies; section 3(b) expressly preserved existing lines of agency authority. Membership therefore did not transfer every department’s statutory decision-making power to the Council. EO 14056, sections 2–3.

The 2021 text required at least annual meetings, but did not repeat the old charter’s quarterly chair report or annual Council report. It also permitted budget recommendations to OMB rather than appropriating funds. In December 2025, EO 14369 expressly revoked EO 14056 and assigned implementation work to the President’s science and technology assistant and named agencies under its own terms. The later order does not expressly reinstate the 2017 or 2020 instruments. EO 14056, sections 3–4 and 7–8; EO 14369, sections 3–4.

SignedDecember 1, 2021
Lead officialsVice President, National Space Council and its Users Advisory Group
Express timingOngoing coordination and reports as directed

Before and after

Before the order

The council operated under a 2017 order with a different membership and policy framework.

After the order

The council met and coordinated Biden space priorities. A December 2025 presidential order revoked EO 14056 and established a successor space-policy structure.

EO 14369 expressly revoked this order.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Vice President / Council chairServe as principal space-policy advisor, set procedures/agendas and determine issues for Council consideration; may invite participants and recommend an Executive Secretary.Sections 3(e), 4(a)–(d): continuing duties or discretion; no quarterly reporting clock in this charter.
National Space CouncilReview and recommend policy, coordinate implementation, resolve interagency differences, convene its Users’ Advisory Group and establish the policy-planning process.Sections 3(a), 3(d), 5(a), 6(a): meet at least annually; no numerical deadline for the planning process.
Heads of agencies with space activitiesConform activities to presidential space policy to the extent permitted by law.Section 5(b): continuing alignment, not a new power to bypass statutory responsibilities.
National Security Council and National Space CouncilCoordinate on primarily national-security space matters consistently with NSC priorities and practices.Section 5(c): continuing coordination; no numerical deadline.
Civilian Executive SecretaryHead Council staff; under chair direction may develop budget recommendations and request resources, information and advice.Sections 3(c), 4(e), 7(b)–(c): appointed by the President; no appointment or submission deadline specified.
OMB DirectorReceive budget recommendations the chair or directed Executive Secretary may develop; existing OMB functions remain protected.Sections 4(e), 8(a)(ii): discretionary recommendation route, not an instruction to fund every proposal.
EOP Office of AdministrationProvide Council administrative support.Section 7(a)(i): as law and existing appropriations permit; no numerical deadline.
Counsel to the President and Counsel to the Vice PresidentProvide the Council’s legal advice exclusively.Section 7(a)(ii): both offices are named, unlike the original 2017 charter.
Council agencies, EOP components and relevant interagency bodiesMake lawful resources available on reasonable request; agencies cooperate and provide requested information/advice.Sections 7(b)–(c): within existing appropriations and applicable law, including the Economy Act.
Users’ Advisory GroupGive advice and work product solely to the Council across civil, commercial and national-security space policy.Section 6: members unpaid; allowable travel depends on law and funds; no numerical report deadline.

What happened next

EO 14056 signed.

The Federal Register published the replacement charter. Section 7(d) expressly revoked EO 13803 and EO 13906. Signed text.

EO 14369 expressly superseded and revoked EO 14056 in section 4(a). Its implementation assignments are not express reinstatement of the old charters. Signed text.

Later primary evidence reviewed: EO 14369 expressly revoked this order.