Executive Order 9397

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Administration of George W. Bush, 2008 / Nov. 18
A lot of folks here in this Department have
worked hard on this initiative, and I congratulate you for your good work. By dramatically boosting our output of clean-burning biodiesel and ethanol, providing tax credits for the purchase of low-emission hybrid
vehicles, and investing in technologies like
advanced batteries and hydrogen fuel cells,
the Department can be proud of the ways
in which we have made America’s transportation system safer, cleaner, and more effective.
Yet there’s a lot more work to be done.
For example, in an age when teenage drivers
use GPS systems in their cars, air traffic controllers still use World War II-era radar to
guide modern jumbo jets. That doesn’t seem
to make any sense to me, and I know it
doesn’t make sense to the Secretary and a
lot of folks in this audience. Modernizing our
aviation system is an urgent challenge. So
today, I’m signing an Executive order that
makes this task a leading priority for agencies
across the Federal Government.
Members of Congress have responsibilities. As they take up the next highway and
aviation bills in the coming year, they should
adhere to a few key principles. They should
harness the power of the free market through
policies like congestion pricing, which uses
the laws of supply and demand to reduce
traffic on our roads and in the air. They
should ensure that taxpayer funds for transportation are allocated based on the true
needs of the American people, not spent on
wasteful earmarks or the political demands
of influential lobbies. They should provide
incentives for the private sector to develop
new technologies, invest in our infrastructure, and help make our transportation system worthy of the 21st century. Just a little
advice.
Of course, we all wish the American citizen
to have a safe and pleasant travel—travels
during this holiday season. We wish them all
the best. And our citizens must know there’s
some really fine people in this Department
of Transportation working hard to see that
goal comes true.
I want to thank you for what you’ve done.
It’s been an honor to serve with you. May
God bless you, and may God continue to

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bless the United States America. Thank you
very much.
NOTE: The President spoke at 9:50 a.m. In his
remarks, he referred to Executive Order 13479.

Executive Order 13478—
Amendments to Executive Order
9397 Relating to Federal Agency Use
of Social Security Numbers
November 18, 2008
By the authority vested in me as President
by the Constitution and laws of the United
States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy It is the policy of the
United States that Federal agencies should
conduct agency activities that involve personal identifiers in a manner consistent with
protection of such identifiers against unlawful use.
Sec. 2. Amendments to Executive Order
9397 Executive Order 9397 of November 22,
1943, is amended:
(a) in paragraph 1 by:
(i) striking ‘‘shall’’ and inserting in lieu
thereof ‘‘may’’;
(ii) striking ‘‘exclusively’’;
(iii) striking ‘‘Title 26, section 402.502’’ and
inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘title 20, section
422.103’’; and
(iv) striking ‘‘the 1940 Supplement to’’;
(b) by striking ‘‘Bureau of the Budget’’ in
paragraph 5 and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Office of Management and Budget’’;
(c) by renumbering paragraph 6 as paragraph 8;
(d) by inserting immediately following
paragraph 5 the following new paragraphs:
‘‘6. This order shall be implemented in accordance with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
‘‘7. 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, instrumentalities, or entities,
its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.’’; and

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Nov. 18 / Administration of George W. Bush, 2008

(e) by striking ‘‘Board’’ each place it appears and inserting in lieu thereof in each
such place ‘‘Administration’’.
Sec. 3. 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, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.
George W. Bush
The White House,
November 18, 2008.
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register,
8:45 a.m., November 19, 2008]
NOTE: This Executive order was published in the
Federal Register on November 20.

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Executive Order 13479—
Transformation of the National Air
Transportation System
November 18, 2008
By the authority vested in me as President
by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy It is the policy of the
United States to establish and maintain a national air transportation system that meets
the present and future civil aviation, homeland security, economic, environmental protection, and national defense needs of the
United States, including through effective
implementation of the Next Generation Air
Transportation System (NextGen).
Sec. 2. Definitions As used in this order
the term ‘‘Next Generation Air Transportation System’’ means the system to which
section 709 of the Vision 100—Century of
Aviation Reauthorization Act (Public Law
108–176) (Act) refers.
Sec. 3. Functions of the Secretary of
Transportation Consistent with sections 709
and 710 of the Act and the policy set forth
in section 1 of this order, the Secretary of
Transportation shall:

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(a) take such action within the authority
of the Secretary, and recommend as appropriate to the President such action as is within the authority of the President, to implement the policy set forth in section 1 of this
order and in particular to implement the
NextGen in a safe, secure, timely, environmentally sound, efficient, and effective manner;
(b) convene quarterly, unless the Secretary
determines that meeting less often is consistent with effective implementation of the
policy set forth in section 1 of this order,
the Senior Policy Committee established
pursuant to section 710 of the Act (Committee);
(c) not later than 60 days after the date
of this order, establish within the Department of Transportation a support staff
(Staff), including employees from departments and agencies assigned pursuant to subsection 4(e) of this order, to support, as directed by the Secretary, the Secretary and
the Committee in the performance of their
duties relating to the policy set forth in section 1 of this order; and
(d) not later than 180 days after the date
of this order, establish an advisory committee
to provide advice to the Secretary and,
through the Secretary, the Committee concerning the implementation of the policy set
forth in section 1 of this order, including aviation-related subjects and any related performance measures specified by the Secretary, pursuant to section 710 of the Act.
Sec. 4. Functions of Other Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies Consistent
with the policy set forth in section 1 of this
order:
(a) the Secretary of Defense shall assist the
Secretary of Transportation by:
(i) collaborating, as appropriate, and
verifying that the NextGen meets the
national defense needs of the United
States consistent with the policies and
plans established under applicable Presidential guidance; and
(ii) furnishing, as appropriate, data streams
to integrate national defense capabilities
of the United States civil and military
systems relating to the national air transportation system, and coordinating the

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