Executive Order 13747-Advancing the Global Health Security Agenda to Achieve a World Safe and Secure From Infectious Disease Threats
Issued 2016-11-04 by Barack Obama
Plain-English Overview
AI-generated summary explaining what this action does, who it affects, and why it matters
This executive order commits the United States to helping other countries improve their ability to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats, whether those threats occur naturally, accidentally, or deliberately. The order recognizes that no single nation can protect itself if other countries remain unprepared for disease outbreaks, so it makes U.S. policy to advance something called the Global Health Security Agenda—a multi-country initiative with specific targets for countries to meet. The order directs U.S. government agencies to work together and partner with other governments, international organizations like the World Health Organization, and private sector groups to help achieve these goals.
The order creates a GHSA Interagency Review Council, led by National Security Council staff, to coordinate these efforts across different parts of the U.S. government. This council must meet at least four times per year to provide guidance, facilitate cooperation between agencies, resolve disagreements, and review progress toward U.S. commitments to help other countries meet their health security targets.
This action affects federal agencies involved in global health and security work, as well as partner countries receiving U.S. assistance to build their disease preparedness capabilities. For everyday Americans, it means the government is working to reduce the risk that infectious diseases from abroad could reach the United States by helping other nations strengthen their own prevention and response systems.
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Constitutional Analysis
How this action fits (or doesn't) within Article II authority and existing law
Executive Order 13747 addresses "Executive Order 13747-Advancing the Global Health Security Agenda to Achieve a World Safe and Secure From Infectious Disease Threats". The President's stated reasoning: "infectious disease threats, including the ability to achieve the targets outlined within the WHO Joint External Evaluation (JEE) tool, as well as gaps identified by such external evaluations." Executive orders are a long-established exercise of presidential power, used by every President since George Washington. They are grounded in Article II of the Constitution, which vests executive power in the President and directs them to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
Executive orders cannot create new law, contradict existing federal statutes, or exceed the President's constitutional authority. The legitimacy of any specific order depends on whether it operates within statutory authority Congress has delegated, directs the executive branch on matters within its constitutional purview, or attempts to substitute executive policy for legislative choices. Courts can and do review executive orders for conformity with the Constitution and federal law.
Official Summary
Administration of Barack Obama, 2016 Executive Order 13747—Advancing the Global Health Security Agenda to Achieve a World Safe and Secure From Infectious Disease Threats November 4, 2016 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1 . Policy . As articulated in the National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats and implemented in Presidential Policy Directive 2 (PPD–2), promoting global health security is a core tenet of our national strategy for countering biological threats. No single nation can be prepared if other nations remain unprepared to counter biological threats; therefore, it is the policy of the United States to advance the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), which is a multi-faceted, multi-country initiative intended to accelerate partner countries' measurable capabilities to achieve specific targets to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats (GHSA targets), whether naturally occurring, deliberate, or accidental. The roles, responsibilities, and activities described in this order will support the goals of the International Health Regulations (IHR) and will be conducted, as appropriate, in coordination with the World Health Organizatio