in effect
This is Executive Order 14239, signed March 18, 2025, a directive from the President to federal agencies. It sets a policy that states, local governments, and individuals should take a larger role in disaster preparedness and infrastructure resilience, and it orders a series of reviews and new documents to reshape how the federal government handles preparedness, continuity, and critical infrastructure.
The order sets deadlines for specific deliverables: a National Resilience Strategy within 90 days; a review of critical infrastructure policies within 180 days; a review of national continuity policies within 180 days; a review of preparedness and response policies within 240 days; and a National Risk Register (quantifying natural and hostile threats) within 240 days. Within 1 year, the Secretary of Homeland Security must propose changes to the federal framework of “functions” (such as National Essential Functions and Community Lifelines) to simplify how state and local officials communicate with the federal government. Most reviews are led by the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and are directed to shift from an “all-hazards” approach to a “risk-informed” approach and to recommend which existing policies to revise, rescind, or replace. The order names specific prior directives to be reviewed (for example, Executive Order 14017 on supply chains and multiple National Security Memoranda) and excludes policies about “misinformation,” “disinformation,” or “cognitive infrastructure,” directing those to a separate process. The strategy and risk register are to be reviewed at least every four years.
The direct actors are federal agencies and White House officials — chiefly the APNSA, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the directors of OMB and the Office of Science and Technology Policy — who must produce the reviews and documents. State and local governments and individuals are the intended beneficiaries, as the order aims to give them a larger role and clearer communication with federal officials. The order states it creates no legally enforceable rights and must be carried out consistent with existing law and available funding.