George W. Bush's executive orders in 2009

This year has 5 guides in the George W. Bush collection. Existing status summaries note later changes for EO 13484, EO 13488. Open a guide for its sources and current-position review.

2009

EO 13484 · 2009-01-09 · Amending Executive Order 13241, the Order of Succession Within the Department of Agriculture2009 USDA succession amendment subject to vacancies lawReplaced Agriculture’s acting-secretary list and added eligibility protections.

EO 13485 · 2009-01-09 · Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Transportation, 20092009 Transportation succession order subject to vacancies lawSet a Transportation acting-secretary sequence for a vacancy or incapacity.

EO 13486 · 2009-01-09 · Strengthening Laboratory Biosecurity in the United StatesSelect-agent security rule revised in 2012Created an interagency working group to strengthen security controls for laboratories handling dangerous biological agents.

EO 13487 · 2009-01-16 · Establishment of a Temporary Organization to Facilitate United States Government Support for AfghanistanFunctions transferred to a successor Pakistan and Afghanistan Support Office in 2010Created a temporary State Department Afghanistan Support Office; a 2010 order transferred its functions, personnel, assets, liabilities and records to a broader successor office.

EO 13488 · 2009-01-16 · Granting Reciprocity on Excepted Service and Federal Contractor Employee Fitness and Reinvestigating Individuals in Positions of Public TrustReciprocity order amended in 2017Directed reciprocal use of suitable background checks for excepted-service and contractor fitness decisions.

The closing weeks of the Bush administration

The related guides include Executive Order 13484, Executive Order 13485, Executive Order 13486, Executive Order 13487, Executive Order 13488. These are individual orders with separate legal effects, implementation histories, and current status.

All five orders in this year’s George W. Bush collection were signed between January 9 and January 16, 2009. The group includes succession rules for the Agriculture and Transportation Departments, a laboratory-biosecurity working group, a temporary office coordinating federal support for Afghanistan, and reciprocity rules for federal and contractor workforce investigations. The short time span makes these orders a useful example of how an administration handles continuity of leadership and unfinished work during a transition.

The guides distinguish internal management directions from measures that changed later. For example, the Afghanistan office was temporary and its functions were transferred to a successor office in 2010; the succession orders operate only when the specified vacancy or incapacity conditions apply. The listed orders should therefore be read with the later disposition named on each guide, rather than treated as a single package with one common legal effect.