Presidential Memoranda: Permitting and the Armed Forces

Rebuilding the U.S. Armed Forces

This Memorandum was issued on January 27, 2017 and is addressed to the Secretary of Defense and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.  It has 4 sections.

Section 1

This section defines that the policy of the US is to rebuild the US Armed Forces.  To be honest, no one ever presented to me any explanation of why the armed forces needed rebuilding.  I have never thought that the armed forces had faltered.  There could be an argument that we need to have larger armed forces and that their equipment needs to be updated with more technologically advanced equipment, but that is not what is being communicated.

Section 2

This section calls for a readiness review to be performed and that a report to the President is made of its findings.  Additionally, it directs the Secretary of Defense and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to prepare a budget amendment to enlarge the military budget.  Overall, a plan to increase readiness shall be developed and implemented.

Section 3

This section discusses reviews of the National Defense Strategy, Nuclear Posture Review and Ballistic Missile Defense Review.  There is not a lot of details in terms of what the direction will be for these reviews.  It is not clear whether that means that the administration did not know what direction they wanted other than just "rebuild", or if there was something sent verbally that did provide the directions but it was sinister and as such could not be written down.  In any case, rebuilding the military was a slogan from the campaign.  Additionally, it should be noted that the President also campaigned on pulling back from having a global presence and bringing the troops back because we had no business being in ... wherever.  And yet this memorandum was a marker to increase military spending: power for the sake of power?  Looking back from now (December 2017), the budget has been such a difficult item that very little on the President's agenda has been funded.  Significantly, there has been questions as to whether the military will be able to spend more in 2018 that it did in 2017 given the current impasse in the Senate.

Section 4

This section includes the usual fine print to assure the constitutionality of the directives issues.  As well, it directs the Secretary of Defense to have it published in the Federal Register.

Streamlining Permitting and Reducing Regulatory Burdens for Domestic Manufacturing

This memorandum was issued on January 24, 2017 and is addressed for the heads of Executive Departments and Agencies.  It has 4 sections

Section 1

This section states the policy that the regulatory state needs to be deconstructed because regulation is adversely impacting the manufacturing sector of the US.

Section 2

This section directs the Secretary of Commerce to solicit comments from the public regarding streamlining the permitting process.

Section 3

This section directs the Secretary of Commerce to submit an action plan to the President on how the permitting process will be streamlined.

Section 4

This section includes the necessary legal fine print to assure its constitutionality.

Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline

This memorandum was issued on January 24, 2017 and is addressed to the Secretaries of State, the Army and the Interior.  It has 4 sections

Section 1

This section invokes Executive Orders 11423 and 13337 as sources to direct the Secretary of State to use "Presidential permits" as a means to issue the required permits for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Section 2

This section invites TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P to re-submit the application to the Department of State.

Section 3

This section directs the Secretaries of State, the Army and the Interior to cut short all internal reviews and pretty much mandates that the decision, insofar as the Federal Government is concerned, is to issue the permit because the President says so.  Frankly, this is another example where Trump has not respected due process.  Trump's definition of due process seems to be application of influence to the extent necessary so the decision will go in your favor.

Section 4

This section includes the necessary legal fine print to assure that the directives in the memorandum do not overstep the bounds of the executive branch.