Executive Order 13781: Executive Branch Reorganization

What the Executive Order Says

Executive Order (EO) 13781 is entitled "Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch" and was issued on March 13th, 2017.  This EO has 3 sections and was promoted as part of the "drain the swamp" strategy.

Section 1

This section defines the policy that the executive branch should be reorganized to eliminate unnecessary agencies.  This will then improve the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of the Executive Branch of the government.

Section 2

This section has 5 subsections.  The first subsection directs the heads of agencies to provide a report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Director) within 180 days.  The second subsection directs the Director to request public comments and suggestions by way of notice in the Federal Register which is here.  The third subsection requests a report from the Director compiling the information from the first two subsections which is to be submitted to the President.  The fourth subsection details what the report is to cover which includes finding where multiple agencies are doing the same thing or where it would be preferable that State or local governments or private industry should perform those functions.  The report should also include recommendations for legislation to help meet the policy goal expressed in section 1.  The last subsection directs the Director to seek input from the heads of agencies and other persons or entities outside the Federal Government where appropriate.

Section 3

This section contains the necessary legal fine print to assure that the EO is constitutional.

My Commentary

Taken on face value, this seems to be a laudable goal.  Eliminating redundancy is good in any organization.  The difficulties will lie in how to make value judgments regarding whether the Federal Government should be performing some administrative or regulatory function and how intangible benefits are weighed against cash costs in the performance of functions.
Clearly the current administration campaigned on the plank of cutting back the government.  What this EO sets into motion is a reduction in the size of government.  In the President's proposed budget, this included cut backs on the workforce in a number of agencies, but it would appear to me that those cutbacks were not associated with this EO and probably developed independently.
The notice for comments was issued 5/15/17 and the period for comments closed on 6/12/17.  Per the www.regulations.gov site, 2,019 comments were recorded.  On April 12th, the Director issued this memo which asks primarily for agencies to find ways to cut the work force.
In the end, there are valid efficiencies that can be made by way of moving to use higher levels of technology in the course of service delivery and the rest of the day to day work of the government.  However, it is clear that the focus here is to determine what can be shut down.  It will depend on how hard the heads of agencies will fight against the President and Director as to how much of the government will be eliminated.