Ordering the Selected Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty
Signed: April 30, 2020
Published: May 4, 2020
Document Number: 2020-09645
📋Summary
This executive order authorizes the Secretary of Defense to call up members of the Selected Reserve to active duty to support an “Enhanced Department of Defense Counternarcotic Operation in the Western Hemisphere.” It affects Selected Reserve units and individual reservists under the Department of Defense, allowing up to 200 reservists to be on active duty at any one time. Those activated can be ordered to serve for up to 365 consecutive days, as the Secretary of Defense determines is necessary for the mission. The order also notes it must be carried out under existing law and available funding, and it does not create new legal rights or benefits for individuals.
💼Business Impact
This order activates up to 200 Selected Reservists for up to 365 days to support an enhanced DoD counternarcotics mission, which most directly affects employers with Reserve/Guard employees (especially logistics, transportation, construction, energy, and public safety contractors) through temporary workforce absences and scheduling disruptions. It also creates near-term opportunities for defense-adjacent firms—maritime/aviation surveillance support, maintenance, logistics, communications, and intelligence/analytics vendors—via increased operational demand tied to Western Hemisphere interdiction. Businesses should immediately (1) identify employees in the Selected Reserve and review USERRA compliance (job protection, benefits continuation rules, reemployment timelines), (2) update staffing/contingency plans and cross-train for potential 12‑month absences, and (3) monitor DoD/agency solicitations and prime-contractor needs for counternarcotics support services and surge capacity.
Full Text
Executive Order 13919 of April 30, 2020
Ordering the Selected Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 12304 of title 10, United States Code, and having determined that it is necessary to augment the regular Armed Forces of the United States for a named operational mission, specifically the “Enhanced Department of Defense Counternarcotic Operation in the Western Hemisphere,” I hereby order as follows:
Section 1 . Activation Authority. The Secretary of Defense is directed to order to active duty for not more than 365 consecutive days, any units, and any individual members not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit, of the Selected Reserve under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense, not to exceed 200 Selected Reservists at any one time, as he considers necessary.
Sec. 2 . General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
( printed page 26592)(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 30, 2020.