Executive Order 11281—Transferring Jurisdiction Over Certain Blocked Assets From the Attorney General to the Secretary of the Treasury

WHEREAS before October 1, 1948, the Secretary of the Treasury administered the blocking controls and other restrictions over property and interests of certain foreign countries or their nationals that had been imposed, under the authority of section 5 (b) of the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 5 (b)), by means of and under Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as amended; and

WHEREAS by Executive Order No. 9989 of August 20, 1948, jurisdiction over the property and interests which remained blocked or restricted under Executive Order No. 8389 on September 30, 1948, was transferred, effective October 1, 1948, to the Attorney General to aid him in carrying out his functions as successor to the Alien Property Custodian, including, among others, the function of vesting property pursuant to the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended; and

WHEREAS by Executive Order No. 10644 of November 7, 1955, the Attorney General was designated to carry out the functions of the President under Title II of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949 (as added by the Act of August 9, 1955, Public Law 285, 84th Congress, 69 Stat. 562), including certain vesting and blocking functions required by section 202 of that Act (22 U.S.C. 1631a), and the Attorney General, as designee of the President, exercises controls under Executive Order No. 8389 with respect to the net proceeds of certain property that are carried, pursuant to section 202, in blocked accounts with the Treasury; and

WHEREAS the functions of vesting property under the Trading with the Enemy Act and under section 202 of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949 have been terminated; and

WHEREAS the blocking controls now exercised by the Attorney General under Executive Order No. 8389 are limited in application to property of Hungary or its nationals acquired on or before January 1, 1945; property of Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or nationals of those countries acquired on or before December 7, 1945; property of East Germany or its nationals acquired on or before December 31, 1946, and certain securities scheduled in General Rulings No. 5 and No. 5B, as amended (8 CFR 511.205 and 511.205b) ; and

WHEREAS the Office of Alien Property, through which the Attorney General carries out or has carried out the various responsibilities described above, will be abolished on or before June 30, 1966, and the Attorney General thereafter will not be in a position to administer blocking controls under Executive Order No. 8389 efficiently; and

WHEREAS in the interest of efficiency it is desirable to return to the Secretary of the Treasury jurisdiction over the property and interests remaining subject to such blocking controls:

Now, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended, Title II of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949 and section 301 of Title 3 of the United States Code, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

SECTION 1. The authority granted to the Attorney General by Executive Order No. 9989 with respect to property and interests blocked or otherwise subject to restriction under Executive Order No. 8389 is hereby terminated and Executive Order No. 9989 is hereby superseded.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Treasury shall hereafter be responsible for the administration of the controls exercisable under Executive Order No. 8389, and he is authorized and directed to take such action as he may deem necessary with respect to any property or interest that remains blocked or restricted under Executive Order No. 8389 on the effective date of this order. In the performance of the functions and duties hereby reassigned to him, the Secretary of the Treasury may act personally or through any officer, person, agency or instrumentality designated by him.

SEC. 3. All orders, regulations, rulings, instructions or licenses issued prior to the effective date of this order by the Attorney General or the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to any of the property or interests referred to in Section 2 shall continue in full force and effect except as hereafter amended, modified or revoked by the Secretary of the Treasury.

SEC. 4. No person affected by any order, regulation, ruling, instruction, license or other action issued or taken by either the Attorney General or the Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of Executive Order No. 8389 may challenge the validity thereof or otherwise excuse any action, or failure to act, on the ground that it was within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury rather than the Attorney General or vice versa.

SEC. 5. Section 1 of Executive Order No. 10644 of November 7, 1955, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SECTION 1. (a) With the exception of the functions referred to in subsection (b) of this section, the Attorney General, and, as designated by the Attorney General for this purpose, any Assistant Attorney General are hereby designated and empowered to perform the functions conferred by Title II of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949 upon the President, and the functions conferred by that title upon any designee of the President.

"(b) The Secretary of the Treasury, and any officer, person, agency or instrumentality designated by the Secretary of the Treasury for this purpose, are hereby designated and empowered to perform the functions conferred upon the President by section 202 of Title II with respect to the release of blocked property and of the net proceeds of property that are carried in blocked accounts with the Treasury."

SEC. 6. Executive Order No. 8389, this order and all delegations, designations, regulations, rulings, instructions and licenses issued or to be issued under Executive Order No. 8389 or this order are hereby continued in force according to their terms for the duration of the period of the national emergency proclaimed by Proclamation No. 2914 of December 16, 1950. Executive Order No. 10348 of April 26, 1952 is hereby superseded.

SEC. 7. Nothing in this order shall be deemed to revoke or limit any powers heretofore conferred on the Secretary of the Treasury by or under any statute or Executive order, or to revoke or limit any powers heretofore conferred upon the Attorney General by or under any statute or Executive order other than Executive Order No. 9989 or No. 10644.

SEC. 8. This order shall become effective at midnight May 15, 1966.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

May 13, 1966