Memorandum From the President on Establishment of the Peace Corps as an Autonomous Agency within ACTION

Memorandum for the Director of ACTION, the Director of Peace Corps, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Subject: Establishment of the Peace Corps as an Autonomous Agency within ACTION

I have today signed the attached Executive order to establish the Peace Corps as an autonomous agency within ACTION. The purpose of this order is to strengthen the vitality, visibility, and independence of the Peace Corps while preserving its position as a joint venture with our domestic volunteer service programs within the framework of ACTION.

This Executive order supersedes Executive Order 11603, issued in 1971. Executive Order 11603 assigned to the ACTION Director the authority to direct the Peace Corps. The attached order delegates that authority to the Peace Corps Director.

The order requires the Peace Corps Director to consult with the Director of ACTION and to coordinate Peace Corps activities with those of ACTION. It provides that the Director of ACTION will be responsible for the general direction of all ACTION functions which jointly serve ACTION's domestic volunteer components and the Peace Corps and for advising the Peace Corps Director to ensure the carrying out of the functions assigned to the Peace Corps Director. The order also incorporates those provisions of Executive Order 11603 which gave ACTION and its Director the responsibility for coordinating Federal voluntary ACTION activities. The order does not alter the existing relationship between the Peace Corps and other overseas programs of the United States Government, as set out in the Secretary of State's issuance of March 29, 1978, to the Chiefs of Mission.

The Directors of ACTION and the Peace Corps will agree within 30 days upon a plan implementing the changes required by the order. That plan and the resulting reorganization are to be developed and carried out by the Directors of ACTION and the Peace Corps according to the following principles:

• ACTION shall continue to be the principal agency within the Federal Government for administering volunteer service programs. The Director of ACTION shall be responsible for the coordination of programs under the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, the Peace Corps Act, and other Federal acts authorizing volunteer service programs.

• The Director of the Peace Corps shall have budgetary authority for the Peace Corps, to include responsibility for establishing and controlling a separate Peace Corps budget, subject only to ACTION policy guidance regarding coordination with domestic programs.

• The Director of Peace Corps shall direct and control the operations of the Peace Corps and such support functions as are necessary to carry out the responsibilities delegated by the Executive order. The Director of ACTION shall direct and control support functions which continue jointly to serve ACTION domestic volunteer components and Peace Corps. Decisions concerning the allocation of support functions are to be made jointly by the Peace Corps and ACTION Directors.

• Those support functions which should in the interests of economy, efficiency, and good management be carried out jointly, or by shared personnel, shall continue to be so carried out.

• Consistent with my August 11, 1977, memorandum, any transfers of functions or personnel from ACTION to the Peace Corps shall be carried out in a manner which minimizes disruption of programs and at the same time minimizes hardship to employees.

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall review the implementation agreement reached by the Peace Corps and ACTION Directors and shall sign such determination orders as may be necessary.

JIMMY CARTER