Amending Executive Order 13803—Reviving the National Space Council
This executive order (EO 13906, issued February 13, 2020) amends Executive Order 13803 (the 2017 reviving of the National Space Council) to resize and clarify the Council’s membership and to remove a quarterly reporting requirement. The order explicitly expands who sits on the National Space Council (NSC) by naming a broad set of senior executives from various federal departments and offices, and it gives the Chair the authority to include additional agency heads and senior officials as needed. It also cancels the obligation that the NSC submit quarterly reports to the President about its activities, reducing reporting burdens. Overall, the measure aims to strengthen cross-agency coordination on national space policy while limiting ongoing reporting requirements. What this means in practice: the NSC is reactivated with a more expansive and flexible membership, ensuring participation from key national security, diplomacy, economic, civil, and scientific leadership. By removing the mandatory quarterly reports, the White House reduces formal oversight requirements while preserving interagency coordination for space matters, subject to existing laws and funding.
Key Points
- 1Amends the NSC membership: The Council must include the Vice President (as Chair), and heads of the Secretary of State, Defense, Commerce, Transportation, Energy, Homeland Security, as well as other senior officials (DNI, OMB Director, and several senior White House policy aides), plus the Administrator of NASA and the Director of OSTP, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; positions of other agency heads and senior officials may be added at the Chair’s discretion.
- 2Chair authority to add members: The Chair can determine which other executive department heads and senior officials should join the NSC, broadening or tailoring participation as needed.
- 3Revocation of quarterly reports: The first sentence of section 4(c) of EO 13803 is repealed, removing the requirement for the NSC to issue quarterly reports on space policy and activities.
- 4General provisions preserved: The order maintains that it does not diminish statutory authority of any department or agency, nor the OMB’s budgetary/administrative roles; it must be implemented in accordance with law and available appropriations; it does not create enforceable rights.
- 5Administrative scope: The action is an executive-level coordination move, intended to facilitate interagency collaboration on national space policy rather than to create new statutory authorities.