Executive Order 13252: Exclusions From the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program
President: George W. Bush
Excluded five Justice Department components—United States Attorneys’ Offices, the Criminal Division, INTERPOL–U.S. National Central Bureau, the National Drug Intelligence Center and the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review—from chapter 71 federal-sector collective-bargaining coverage.
Status: In effect.
Is Executive Order 13252 still in effect? Yes. Active as part of EO 12171 framework; later exclusions added.
What does Executive Order 13252 do?
The order assigned these duties: Justice Department — Treat the five listed subdivisions as excluded from chapter 71; Affected components — End statutory bargaining obligations that depended on chapter 71 coverage.
Verified the five named Justice Department components and the chapter 71 exclusion against the signed order. The scope remains limited to those subdivisions; the official 2002 disposition table records the amendment to EO 12171.
Before and after
Before the order
EO 12171 already excluded specified intelligence, investigative and national-security components, but not these five Justice subdivisions.
After the order
Justice and the FLRA treated the listed offices as outside chapter 71. An FLRA administrative-law judge dismissed a pending bargaining complaint involving a U.S. Attorney’s Office after the order took effect. Later presidential orders repeatedly amended EO 12171, while reorganizations changed or absorbed some named components.
Who had to do what
| Agency / office | Action | Timing / position |
|---|---|---|
| Justice Department | Treat the five listed subdivisions as excluded from chapter 71 | From January 7, 2002 |
| Affected components | End statutory bargaining obligations that depended on chapter 71 coverage | While the exclusion applies |
| FLRA | Apply the presidential exclusion in cases within its jurisdiction | In affected proceedings |
What happened next
EO 13252 signed.
EO 13252 added the five Justice subdivisions to EO 12171.
Court status
No court opinion, filing or docket is linked in this guide’s current source set.
Legal and source detail
How it works legally
Section 7103(b)(1) authorizes the President to exclude an agency or subdivision whose primary function is intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative or national-security work when chapter 71 cannot be applied consistently with national-security requirements. The order’s validity was not adjudicated in the located FLRA case; the tribunal applied it.
Sources by type
If a source is unavailable, first check the cited publisher or another official repository. The cited publisher remains the authority.
Primary and official sources
Orders, laws, court records and official implementation material.
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on October 2, 2026. How we research →