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Executive Order Establishes the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council and Senior Advisory Committees for Homeland Security

Washington D.C., April 18, 2002 - Soon after completion of the NSTAC XXV conference last March, President Bush issued another homeland security executive order – an order that established a new presidential advisory council that will focus on developing ways to protect the United States from terrorist threat and attack.

The Executive Order (E.O.) signed March 19, 2002, created the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council (PHSAC), which will provide advice to the President – through the Assistant to the President on Homeland Security -- on developing and coordinating the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks.

According to the E.O., the PHSAC will consist of not more than 21 members appointed by the President -- two of which will be designated as chair and vice chair. The E.O. dictates that the appointed members of the PHSAC shall be selected from the private sector, academia, professional service associations, federally funded research and development centers, nongovernmental organizations, State and local governments, and other appropriate professions and communities.

In addition to the appointed members, the President said that the Chair and the Vice Chair of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC); the Chair of the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC); and the Chair of the Panel on the Science and Technology of Combating Terrorism, President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, will also serve as PHSAC members.

The PHSAC role will also include recommendations on ways to improve coordination, cooperation, and communication among Federal, State, and local officials and private and other entities; as well as providing a means to collect scholarly research, technological advice, and information concerning processes and organizational management practices both inside and outside of the Federal Government.

The council also advise the President on the feasibility of implementing specific measures to “…detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist threats or attacks within the United States; and examine the effectiveness of the implementation of specific strategies to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist threats or attacks within the United States.”

To assist the PHSAC in its mission, the President also ordered the establishment of four Senior Advisory Committees (SAC) for Homeland Security. These four committees will focus on: State and local officials and their roles, academia and policy research, the private sector, and Emergency Services, Law Enforcement and Public Health and Hospitals. The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security will select not more than 17 individuals for each of the committees, as well as the chair and vice chair for each. The President may establish additional groups as required.

All PHSAC members shall serve without compensation for their work on the committee, the SACs, and any subcommittees. However, members shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by law for persons serving intermittently in Federal Government service.

The President ordered that heads of Executive Departments and Agencies provide the PHSAC with homeland security information on their agencies upon the council’s request. He also indicated that the PHSAC would have a government official as Executive Director, who would be appointed by the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security.

Unless the Executive Order is extended by the President, the PHSAC, its subordinate SACs, and all subcommittees will conclude work on March 19, 2004.

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