Executive Order 13493: Review of Detention Policy Options
President: Barack Obama
Created a task force to examine lawful options for detention, trial, transfer and release of people captured in armed conflict or counterterrorism operations.
Status: Completed/expired. Is Executive Order 13493 still in effect? No. EO 13493 created a time-limited detention-policy task force, not a permanent detention authority; its co-chairs were directed to terminate it when its work ended.
What does Executive Order 13493 do?
Obama created a joint Justice–Defense policy review to identify lawful options for people captured in armed conflict or counterterrorism operations. Its scope covered apprehension, detention, trial, transfer, release and other dispositions. The central question was which existing legal pathways could protect national security while remaining consistent with foreign-policy interests and justice, rather than whether the President could invent a new detention system by executive order. Signed order.
The Attorney General and Defense Secretary served as co-chairs, supported by foreign-policy, homeland-security, intelligence and military officials. They could create subgroups and select an executive secretary. The task force had to send periodic preliminary reports and a report to the President through the National Security Adviser and White House Counsel within 180 days unless the co-chairs extended that deadline. The signed order required termination on completion of its duties; it did not establish a continuing board to approve every future detention. Signed order.
Before and after
Before the order
The incoming administration inherited questions about civilian prosecution, military commissions and detention under the law of war. EO 13493 put those options into one interagency policy review. It was distinct from EO 13492's review of individual Guantanamo detainees and EO 13491's interrogation-and-transfer task force, even though their subjects overlapped. Signed order.
After the order
The July 21, 2009 DOJ announcement reported a preliminary military-commissions report and a protocol for selecting a prosecution forum. The co-chairs also extended the broader task force's work by six months. That distinction matters: the preliminary prosecution document was an output, but the agency announcement did not describe it as completion of all the order's work. A later statutory reform of commissions was a congressional action, not a detention power created by this review order. Signed order. Sources: DOJ preliminary report announcement and six-month extension; Boumediene v. Bush, June 12, 2008; Military Commissions Act of 2009.
Who had to do what
| Agency / office | Action | Timing / position |
|---|---|---|
| Attorney General | Co-chair the review, convene meetings, direct work, select executive secretary jointly and arrange Justice support. | Periodic preliminary reports; presidential report within 180 days unless extended; terminate on completion. |
| Defense Secretary | Co-chair the review, provide Defense staff and jointly decide work program, executive secretary and any extension. | Initial 180-day report target; extended six months on July 21, 2009. |
| State Secretary | Serve on task force addressing foreign-policy implications of trial, detention and transfer options. | During review; no separate deadline. |
| Homeland Security Secretary | Participate in task force reviewing lawful detention and disposition policy. | During review. |
| Director of National Intelligence | Participate in interagency examination of lawful disposition options. | During review. |
| CIA Director | Participate in review and contribute agency expertise on counterterrorism dispositions. | During review. |
| Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff | Participate in review of armed-conflict detention and trial options. | During review. |
| Department of Justice | Provide administrative support and funding within law and available appropriations. | For the life of the task force. |
| National Security Adviser and Counsel to the President | Receive report for transmission to the President. | At the 180-day target or an authorized extension. |
What happened next
Obama created the detention-policy review task force. Official source
DOJ and Defense announced the preliminary prosecution-forum report and extended work by six months. Official source
Congress enacted the Military Commissions Act of 2009 in the FY2010 defense authorization, a separate statutory trial framework. Official source
Court status
See the court documents in Sources by type.
Legal and source detail
How it works legally
The order invoked the Constitution and laws generally; it did not cite a new standalone detention statute or purport to suspend habeas corpus. In Boumediene v. Bush, decided June 12, 2008, the Supreme Court held that Guantanamo detainees could invoke the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus and that the statutory review arrangement at issue was not an adequate substitute. EO 13493 could therefore commission options and recommendations but not nullify judicial review. Its general provisions required compliance with law, limited support to available appropriations and created no private right or benefit. Congress's Military Commissions Act of 2009, enacted October 28, 2009, provided its own trial framework. Decisions to prosecute or continue detaining a particular person still required a lawful basis beyond the existence of this temporary task force. Signed order. Sources: DOJ preliminary report announcement and six-month extension; Boumediene v. Bush, June 12, 2008; Military Commissions Act of 2009.
Sources by type
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Primary and official sources
Orders, laws, court records and official implementation material.
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on September 15, 2026. How we research →