Executive Orders

Executive Order 10457--Designating the Department of Justice as a defense agency for certain purposes

Source: The provisions of Executive Order 10457 of May 27, 1953, appear at 18 FR 3083, 3 CFR, 1949-1953 Comp., p. 943, unless otherwise noted.

WHEREAS chapter 17 of title 35 of the United States Code provides in part that whenever the publication or disclosure of any invention by the granting of a patent therefore might be detrimental to the national security, the invention may be kept secret and the granting of a patent withheld under the conditions and to the extent set out therein;

WHEREAS section 181 of the said chapter 17 provides in part as follows:
Whenever the publication or disclosure of an invention by the granting of a patent, in which the Government does not have a property interest, might, in the opinion of the Commissioner, be detrimental to the national security, he shall make the application for patent in which such invention is disclosed available for inspection to the Atomic Energy Commission,¹ the Secretary of Defense, and the chief officer of any other department or agency of the Government designated by the President as a defense agency of the United States.

AND WHEREAS it appears that it would be in the interest of the national security to make the designation hereinafter described:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the above-quoted provision of law, I hereby designate the Department of Justice as a defense agency of the United States for the purposes of the said chapter 17 of title 35 of the United States Code.

¹Editorial note: The Atomic Energy Commission was abolished and its functions transferred to the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-438, 88 Stat. 1233). The functions of the Energy Research and Development Administration were transferred to the Department of Energy by the Department of Energy Organization Act (91 Stat. 565, 42 U.S.C. 7151), effective October 1, 1977.