Executive Order 9562—Termination of the Office of Civilian Defense

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. The Office of Civilian Defense (hereinafter referred to as the Office), established by Executive Order No. 8757 of May 20, 1941, is terminated. The functions of the Office and of the Director thereof are abolished, except to the extent that they are transferred by this order. The property, the records, and personnel of the Office are transferred as hereinafter indicated.

2. All protective property of the Office, acquired under the act of January 27, 1942, 56 Stat. 19, the act of February 21, 1942, 56 Stat. 98, or otherwise, is transferred to the Department of Commerce. All functions heretofore vested in the Office or in the Director thereof incident to the storage, care, transportation, inspection, and disposition of such property are transferred to the Secretary of Commerce, and shall be exercised by him in consonance with the Surplus Property Act of 1944 and the regulations and designations of the Surplus Property Board under that Act. The Secretary may carry out such functions through such agencies and personnel of the Department of Commerce as he shall designate. So much of the personnel, records, and other property of the Office as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine to be necessary for carrying out the purposes of this paragraph shall be transferred to the Department of Commerce.

3. The Secretary of the Treasury, acting through the Bureau of Accounts of the Treasury Department and such personnel of the Bureau of Accounts as he shall designate, shall, except as otherwise provided in paragraph 2 hereof, wind up the affairs of the Office. This shall include, but not be limited to, the separation of any excess personnel of the Office from the service; the liquidation of obligations incurred by the Office under its appropriations; the maintenance of expired appropriation accounts of the Office; the handling of residual pay-roll matters of the Office, including final payments to employees and action required with respect to bonds under the pay-roll deduction plan, withheld taxes, and retirement accounts; the effecting of collections and disposition of special deposit accounts relating to the Office; the clearance of post-audit exceptions and claims of the Office; and the disposition of such records of the Office as relate to the said affairs. All functions of the Office and of the Director thereof which are necessary to the effectuation of the provisions of this paragraph are transferred to the Secretary of the Treasury. So much of the funds, records, and property of the Office as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine, shall be transferred to the Treasury Department for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this paragraph.

4. Such further measures and dispositions as may be determined by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to be necessary to effectuate the purposes and provisions of this order shall be carried out in such manner as the Director may direct and by such agencies as he may designate.

5. All prior Executive orders which are in conflict with this order are amended to the extent of such conflict.

6. This order shall become effective at the close of business June 30, 1945.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE,

June 4, 1945