in effect
This is Executive Order 14167, signed January 20, 2025, a presidential directive to the U.S. military. It states a policy that the Armed Forces should prioritize protecting U.S. sovereignty and territorial integrity along national borders, and it instructs the Secretary of Defense to build that mission into military planning documents. It references an existing declared National Emergency at the southern border.
The order gives the Secretary of Defense specific tasks with deadlines. Within 10 days, the Secretary must deliver a revision to the Unified Command Plan assigning U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) the mission to “seal the borders” and repel what the order calls forms of invasion—including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activity. On the order’s effective date, two new planning requirements are added to Defense planning guidance: a “Level 3” planning requirement (with a commander’s estimate due to the Secretary within 30 days) and an ongoing “campaign planning” requirement for steady-state southern border security. It also requires continuous assessment of options to protect U.S. territory from mass unlawful entry. The order says it must be carried out consistent with existing law and available funding, and that it creates no new legal rights anyone can enforce in court.
The direct recipients are the Secretary of Defense and USNORTHCOM, which are tasked with rewriting plans and producing the required assessments on the stated timelines. The order is framed around activity at the U.S. southern border, so its operational focus concerns border security, migration, and cross-border trafficking. Because the document states it grants no enforceable rights and depends on existing law and appropriations, it changes internal military planning direction rather than creating new public benefits or obligations.