Defense and national security

Executive Order 13680: Ordering the Selected Reserve and Certain Individual Ready Reserve Members of the Armed Forces to Active Duty

President: Barack Obama

Authorized activation of selected reservists and certain Individual Ready Reserve members for the US Ebola response in West Africa.

Status: Completed/expired. Is Executive Order 13680 still in effect? No. Executive Order 13680 is completed or expired. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13680 do?

EO 13680 used statutory reserve-call-up authority to support Operation United Assistance during the West Africa Ebola outbreak. It authorized the Defense Secretary to order up to 2,100 eligible Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve members to active duty for no more than 365 consecutive days. The deployment wound down in 2015 after helping build treatment, laboratory, logistics and training capacity.

Administration position: The order authorized a limited call-up; it did not conscript civilians or automatically activate every member of the reserve components.
SignedOctober 16, 2014
Personnel ceiling2,100 reservists
Maximum period365 consecutive days

Before and after

Before the order

The military response needed specialized and supporting personnel beyond those already available.

After the order

Defense could activate a defined reserve pool for the time-limited Ebola mission.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Defense SecretarySelect and order eligible reservists to dutyCompleted
Activated personnelSupport Operation United AssistanceCompleted
Defense DepartmentRedeploy forces as mission endedCompleted

What happened next

EO 13680 authorized the reserve call-up.