Defense and national security

Executive Order 12863: President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board

President: Bill Clinton

Established presidential intelligence-advisory and oversight boards with reporting and access functions; EO 13462 later replaced and revoked it.

Status: Revoked — by EO 13462 in 2008.

Is Executive Order 12863 still in effect? No. EO 13462 revoked it in 2008.

What does Executive Order 12863 do?

EO 12863 established the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and an Intelligence Oversight Board committee with advisory, review and reporting duties. In 1999, the advisory board’s special investigative panel issued an unclassified report on security at Department of Energy weapons laboratories following a presidential request. That report documents one use of the advisory structure; it does not establish how every oversight referral under the order was handled. EO 13462 replaced and revoked the framework in 2008.

Administration position: The order said the boards would improve intelligence quality and help assure lawful activity. Those were the administration’s institutional objectives, not findings about any particular intelligence program.
SignedSeptember 13, 1993
Advisory-board sizeUp to 16 outside-government members
Oversight bodyIntelligence Oversight Board

Before and after

Before the order

Earlier presidential arrangements governed outside advice and intelligence oversight.

After the order

EO 12863 defined PFIAB and IOB roles until EO 13462 replaced the structure.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
PFIABAssess intelligence collection, analysis and managementReport at least semiannually
Intelligence agenciesProvide information requested by the boardSubject to the order’s access provisions
IOBReview legality and propriety concerns and report as directedDuring the order’s operation

What happened next

EO 12863 signed.

EO 13462 expressly revoked EO 12863 and established successor arrangements.