Presidential DocumentExecutive Order 137212016-06250
Developing an Integrated Global Engagement Center To Support Government-wide Counterterrorism Communications Activities Directed Abroad and Revoking Executive Order 13584
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 17, 2016
Signed
March 14, 2016
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 81 Issue 52 (Thursday, March 17, 2016)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 52 (Thursday, March 17, 2016)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 14685-14688]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06250]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 52 / Thursday, March 17, 2016 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 14685]]
Executive Order 13721 of March 14, 2016
Developing an Integrated Global Engagement Center
To Support Government-wide Counterterrorism
Communications Activities Directed Abroad and Revoking
Executive Order 13584
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including section 2656 of title 22, United
States Code, and section 3161 of title 5, United States
Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Establishment of the Global Engagement
Center. The Secretary of State (Secretary) shall
establish the Global Engagement Center (Center) which
shall lead the coordination, integration, and
synchronization of Government-wide communications
activities directed at foreign audiences abroad in
order to counter the messaging and diminish the
influence of international terrorist organizations,
including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL), al Qa'ida, and other violent extremists abroad,
with specific responsibilities as set forth in section
3 of this order. The executive director of the Center
shall be the Special Envoy and Coordinator for Global
Engagement Communications (Coordinator), who shall
report to the Secretary through the Under Secretary of
State for Public Diplomacy.
Sec. 2. Revocation. Executive Order 13584 of September
9, 2011 (Developing an Integrated Strategic
Counterterrorism Communications Initiative and
Establishing a Temporary Organization to Support
Certain Government-Wide Communications Activities
Directed Abroad), is revoked.
Sec. 3. Responsibilities Assigned to the Center.
Recognizing the need for innovation and new approaches
to counter the messaging and diminish the influence of
international terrorist organizations, including ISIL,
al Qa'ida, and other violent extremists abroad, and in
order to protect the vital national interests of the
United States, while also recognizing the importance of
protections for freedom of expression, including those
under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States and international human rights
obligations, the responsibilities and functions of the
Center shall include the following:
(a) coordinating, integrating, and synchronizing
all public communications of the United States
Government directed toward foreign audiences abroad in
order to counter the messaging and diminish the
influence of international terrorist organizations and
other violent extremists abroad;
(b) developing and promulgating throughout the
executive branch, on the basis of rigorous research and
modern data analysis, the U.S. strategic
counterterrorism narratives, guidance, and associated
communications strategies directed toward foreign
audiences abroad in order to counter the messaging and
diminish the influence of international terrorist
organizations and other violent extremists abroad;
(c) consulting and engaging, in coordination with
agencies and the Countering Violent Extremism Task
Force, as appropriate, with a range of communications-
related actors and entities, within the United States
and abroad, including governments, private sector and
civil society entities, in order to contribute to U.S.
Government efforts to counter the communications-
related radicalization to violence and recruitment
activities of international terrorist organizations and
other violent extremists abroad, while also building
the capacity of partners to create resonant positive
alternative narratives
[[Page 14686]]
and to diminish the influence of such international
terrorist organizations and other violent extremists
abroad;
(d) identifying, engaging, employing, or acquiring
the best available talent across the U.S. and from
global private sectors, academia, and elsewhere to
support the Center's mission;
(e) identifying shortfalls in any U.S. capabilities
in any areas relevant to the Center's mission and
implementing or recommending, as appropriate, necessary
enhancements or changes; and
(f) developing, supporting, and sustaining networks
of governmental and non-governmental partners, to
provide original content and disseminate messaging
products to foreign audiences abroad and to create,
develop, and sustain effective positive alternative
narratives consistent with U.S. policy objectives.
Sec. 4. Establishment of a Steering Committee. The
Secretary shall establish a Steering Committee composed
of senior representatives of agencies relevant to the
Center's mission to provide advice to the Secretary on
the operations and strategic orientation of the Center
and to ensure adequate support for the Center. The
Steering Committee shall be chaired by the Under
Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy. The Steering
Committee shall include one senior representative
designated by the head of each of the following
agencies: the Department of Defense, the Department of
Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the
Department of the Treasury, the Small Business
Administration, the National Counterterrorism Center,
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Counterterrorism Center
of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Broadcast Board
of Governors, and the United States Agency for
International Development. Other agencies may be
invited to participate in the Steering Committee at the
discretion of the Chair.
Sec. 5. Interagency Support. Agencies are hereby
directed, consistent with budget priorities and mission
constraints, upon request by the Secretary and to the
extent permitted by law and consistent with the need to
protect intelligence and law enforcement sources,
methods, operations, and investigations, to provide to
the Center, and the Center is authorized to use, for
the purpose of carrying out the responsibilities
outlined in this order:
(a) details or assignments of personnel, which
shall be based on reasonable requests in light of the
need for specific domain expertise, and after
consultation with the relevant agency to ensure that
such requests align with their authorities and
resources;
(b) the use of physical premises, equipment, and
logistical or administrative support;
(c) relevant information, research, intelligence,
and analysis; and
(d) such other resources and assistance as the
Coordinator may request for the purpose of carrying out
the responsibilities outlined in this order.
Sec. 6. Establishment of a Temporary Organization. (a)
There is established within the Department of State, in
accordance with section 3161 of title 5, United States
Code, a temporary organization to be known as the
Global Engagement Center Coordination Office (GECCO).
(b) The purpose of the GECCO shall be to perform
the specific project of providing technical, marketing,
management, and operational support to the Center in
its efforts to build and maintain a network of partners
outside the U.S. Government, including private sector
entities and non-governmental organizations, and to
develop research and analytics to enable measurement
and evaluation of the activities of the Center and
related activities conducted by other agencies.
(c) In carrying out the purposes set forth in
subsection (b) of this section, the GECCO shall:
(i) provide technical, marketing, management, and operational support for
the management of contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements;
[[Page 14687]]
(ii) assist the Center in building and maintaining partnerships with
private sector entities, non-governmental organizations, and others as
appropriate in support of the Center's mission;
(iii) design and develop sustained campaigns, in coordination with and
primarily for use by private sector entities and non-governmental
organizations, on specific areas of interest to foreign audiences abroad in
support of the Center's mission;
(iv) conduct or commission baseline research to establish the basis for
evaluation of the activities of the Center and related activities conducted
by other agencies;
(v) develop analytical models and metrics, consistent with the Center's
responsibilities, in order to enable measurement and evaluation of the
activities of the Center in coordinating effective strategies to counter
the messaging and diminish the influence of international terrorist
organizations and other violent extremists abroad, and related activities
conducted by other agencies; and
(vi) perform such other functions related to the specific project set forth
in subsection (b) of this section as the Secretary may assign.
(d) The GECCO shall be headed by the Coordinator.
Its staff may include, as determined by the
Coordinator: (1) personnel with relevant expertise
detailed on a non-reimbursable basis from other
agencies; (2) senior and other technical advisers; (3)
executive-level personnel; and (4) such other personnel
as the Secretary may request to support the GECCO. To
accomplish this mission, the heads of agencies shall,
upon request, provide to the GECCO, on a non-
reimbursable basis, assistance, services, and other
support including but not limited to logistical and
administrative support and details of personnel to the
extent permitted by law. Non-reimbursable details to
the GECCO shall be based on reasonable requests from
the Coordinator in light of the need for specific
expertise, and after consultation with the relevant
agency, to the extent permitted by law.
(e) The GECCO shall terminate at the end of the
maximum period permitted by section 3161(a)(1) of title
5, United States Code, unless sooner terminated by the
Secretary consistent with section 3161(a)(2) of such
title.
(f) The termination of the GECCO as required by
subsection (e) of this section shall not be interpreted
to imply the termination, attenuation or amendment of
any other authority or provision of this order.
Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) authority granted by law to an agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
[[Page 14688]]
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 14, 2016.
[FR Doc. 2016-06250
Filed 3-16-16; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F6-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on March 17, 2016.
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