REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. II OF 1939
Eff. July 1, 1939, 4 F.R. 2731, 53 Stat. 1431 , by act June 7, 1939, ch. 193, 53 Stat. 813
, as amended Aug. 13, 1946, ch. 957, title XI, §1131(65), 60 Stat. 1040
; Aug. 12, 1963,
Pub. L. 88–94, §2(f), 77 Stat. 122
; Sept. 13, 1982,
Pub. L. 97–258, §5(b), 96 Stat. 1068
, 1085
Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, May 9, 1939, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1939, approved April 3, 1939.
PART 1. DEPARTMENTS
Section 1. State Department
Transfers and consolidations relating to the Department of State are hereby effected as follows:
(a)–(c). [Repealed. August 13, 1946, ch. 957, title XI, §1131(65),
(d) China Trade Act Registrar
Such officer of the Foreign Service as the Secretary of State shall make available for that purpose may be authorized by the Secretary of Commerce to perform the duties of China Trade Act Registrar provided for in the act of September 19, 1922, (
(e) [Repealed.
Sec. 2. Treasury Department
[Repealed.
Sec. 3. Department of Justice
Transfers, consolidations, and abolitions relating to the Department of Justice are hereby effected as follows:
(a) Federal Prison Industries, Inc.
The Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (together with its Board of Directors), and its functions are hereby transferred to the Department of Justice and shall be administered under the general direction and supervision of the Attorney General.
(b) National Training School for Boys
The National Training School for Boys and its functions (including the functions of its Board of Trustees) are hereby transferred to the Department of Justice and shall be administered by the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, under the direction and supervision of the Attorney General.
(c) Board of Trustees of the National Training School for Boys Abolished
The Board of Trustees of the National Training School for Boys (including the consulting trustees) is hereby abolished.
Sec. 4. Department of the Interior
Transfers, consolidations, and abolitions relating to the Department of the Interior are hereby effected as follows:
(a) Functions of the National Bituminous Coal Commission Transferred
The functions of the National Bituminous Coal Commission (including the functions of the members of the Commission) are hereby transferred to the Secretary of the Interior to be administered under his direction and supervision by such division, bureau, or office in the Department of the Interior as the Secretary shall determine.
(b) National Bituminous Coal Commission Abolished
The National Bituminous Coal Commission and the offices of the members thereof are hereby abolished and the outstanding affairs of the Commission shall be wound up by the Secretary of the Interior.
(c) Office of Consumers' Counsel Abolished and Functions Transferred
The office of Consumers' Counsel of the National Bituminous Coal Commission is hereby abolished and its functions are transferred to, and shall be administered in, the office of the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of the Interior.
[Functions, records, property, and personnel of Consumer's Counsel of the National Bituminous Coal Commission, which were transferred by this Plan to office of Solicitor of Department of Interior, were retransferred to Office of Bituminous Coal Consumer Counsel by 15 U.S.C. 852. Such Office terminated Aug. 24, 1943.]
(d) Bureau of Insular Affairs
The Bureau of Insular Affairs of the War Department and its functions are hereby transferred to the Department of the Interior and shall be consolidated with the Division of Territories and Island Possessions in the Department of the Interior and administered in such Division under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of the Interior. The office of the Chief of the Bureau and offices subordinate thereto provided for in section 14 of the act of June 4, 1920 (
(e) Bureau of Fisheries
The Bureau of Fisheries in the Department of Commerce and its functions are hereby transferred to the Department of the Interior and shall be administered in that Department under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of the Interior. The functions of the Secretary of Commerce relating to the protection of fur seals and other fur-bearing animals, to the supervision of the Pribilof Islands and the care of the natives thereof, and to the Whaling Treaty Act [16 U.S.C. 901–915], are hereby transferred to, and shall be exercised by, the Secretary of the Interior.
(f) Bureau of Biological Survey
The Bureau of Biological Survey in the Department of Agriculture and its functions are hereby transferred to the Department of the Interior and shall be administered in that Department under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of the Interior. The functions of the Secretary of Agriculture relating to the conservation of wildlife, game, and migratory birds are hereby transferred to, and shall be exercised by, the Secretary of the Interior. The provisions of the act of May 18, 1934, (c. 299,
(g) Officers of Biological Survey May Administer Oaths
The provisions of the act of January 31, 1925 (c. 124,
(h) Migratory Bird Conservation Commission
The Secretary of the Interior shall be chairman of the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, and the Secretary of Agriculture shall be a member thereof.
(i) Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission and its functions are hereby transferred to the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior. The functions vested in the Commission by sections 3 and 4(a) of the act of June 15, 1938 (c. 402,
Sec. 5. Department of Agriculture: Rural Electrification Administration Transferred
The Rural Electrification Administration and its functions and activities are hereby transferred to the Department of Agriculture and shall be administered in that Department by the Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration under the general direction and supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture.
Sec. 6. Department of Commerce: Transfer of Inland Waterways Corporation
The Inland Waterways Corporation and all of its functions and obligations are hereby transferred to the Department of Commerce and shall be administered in that Department under the supervision and direction of the Secretary of Commerce. The capital stock of the Corporation shall continue to be held for the United States by the Secretary of the Treasury, but all other functions, rights, privileges, and powers and all duties and liabilities of the Secretary of War relating to the Inland Waterways Corporation are hereby transferred to, and shall be exercised, performed, and discharged by, the Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary of Commerce shall be substituted for the Secretary of War, as and shall be deemed to be, the incorporator of the Inland Waterways Corporation.
[
PART 2. INDEPENDENT AGENCIES
Sec. 201. Federal Security Agency
Transfers and consolidations relating to the Federal Security Agency are hereby effected as follows:
(a) Radio Service and United States Film Service Transferred
The functions of the Radio Division and the United States Film Service of the National Emergency Council are hereby transferred to the Federal Security Agency and shall be administered in the Office of Education under the direction and supervision of the Federal Security Administrator. [Functions of Radio Division were authorized to be carried out until June 30, 1940, by Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1939, §8.]
(b) American Printing House for the Blind
The functions of the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to the administration of the appropriations for the American Printing House for the Blind (except the function relating to the perpetual trust fund) are hereby transferred to the Federal Security Agency and shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the Federal Security Administrator. The annual report and vouchers required to be furnished to the Secretary of the Treasury by the trustees of the American Printing House for the Blind shall be furnished to the Federal Security Administrator.
Sec. 202. National Archives
Transfers, consolidations, and abolitions relating to the National Archives are hereby effected as follows:
(a) Functions of Codification Board Transferred
The functions of the Codification Board, established by the Act of June 19, 1937 (
(b) Codification Board Abolished
The Codification Board is hereby abolished and its outstanding affairs shall be wound up by the Archivist through the Division of the Federal Register in the National Archives.
PART 3. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
(a) Functions of National Emergency Council Transferred
All functions of the National Emergency Council other than those relating to Radio Service and Film Service (transferred by Section 201(a) of this plan to the Federal Security Agency) are hereby transferred to the Executive Office of the President and shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the President. [Functions of National Emergency Council transferred to Executive Office of President were authorized to be carried out until June 30, 1940, by Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1939, §8.]
(b) National Emergency Council Abolished
The National Emergency Council is hereby abolished and its outstanding affairs shall be wound up under the direction and supervision of the President.
PART 4. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 401. Transfer of Functions of Heads of Departments
Except as otherwise provided in this plan, the functions of the head of any Department relating to the administration of any agency or function transferred from his Department by this plan, are hereby transferred to, and shall be exercised by, the head of the department or agency to which such transferred agency or function is transferred by this plan.
Sec. 402. Transfer of Records, Property, and Personnel
All records and property (including office equipment) of the several agencies, and all records and property used primarily in the administration of any functions, transferred by this plan and, except as otherwise provided, all the personnel used in the administration of such agencies and functions (including officers whose chief duties relate to such administration) are hereby transferred to the respective departments or agencies concerned, for use in the administration of the agencies and functions transferred by this plan: Provided, That any personnel transferred to any department or agency by this section found by the head of such department or agency to be in excess of the personnel necessary for the administration of the functions transferred to his department or agency shall be retransferred under existing law to other positions in the Government service, or separated from the service subject to the provisions of section 10(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1939.
Sec. 403. Transfer of Funds
So much of the unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, or other funds available for the use of any agency in the exercise of any function transferred by this plan, or for the use of the head of any department or agency in the exercise of any function so transferred, as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget with the approval of the President shall determine, shall be transferred to the department or agency concerned for use in connection with the exercise of the function so transferred. In determining the amount to be transferred the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may include an amount to provide for the liquidation of obligations incurred against such appropriations, allocations, or other funds prior to the transfer: Provided, That the use of the unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, or other funds transferred by this section shall be subject to the provisions of section 4(d)(3) and section 9 of the Reorganization Act of 1939.
Sec. 404. Transfer of Functions Relating to Personnel
Except as prohibited by the Reorganization Act of 1939, all functions relating to the appointment, fixing of compensation, transfer, promotion, demotion, suspension, or dismissal of persons to or from offices and positions in any department vested by law in any officer of such department other than the head thereof are hereby transferred to the head of such department and shall be administered under his direction and supervision by such division, bureau, office, or persons as he shall determine.
Message of the President
To the Congress of the United States:
Pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1939 (Public, No. 19, 76th Cong., 1st Sess.) approved April 3, 1939, I herewith transmit Reorganization Plan No. II, which, after investigation, I have prepared in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of the act; and I declare that with respect to each transfer, consolidation, or abolition made in Reorganization Plan No. II, I have found that such transfer, consolidation, or abolition is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes of section 1 (a) of the act.
In my message to the Congress on April 25, 1939, transmitting Reorganization Plan No. I, I took occasion to say that, it being obviously impracticable to complete the task of reorganization at one time, I had decided, in view of the declaration of the Congress that it should be accomplished immediately and speedily, to undertake it in several steps.
Plan No. I, had to do with overall management. Plan No. II, transmitted herewith, is designed to improve the work of the executive branch for which, although carried on through executive departments and agencies, the responsibility to the people is through the President. It is concerned with the sole purpose of improving the administrative management of the executive branch by a more logical grouping of existing units and functions and by a further reduction in the number of independent agencies.
I am transmitting Reorganization Plan No. II as the result of studies that have been made for me and of my own experience over a period of several years, as the best way in which to regroup the agencies affected so as to fulfill the purposes of the act:
1. To reduce expenditures;
2. To increase efficiency;
3. To consolidate agencies according to major purposes;
4. To reduce the number of agencies by consolidating those having similar functions and by abolishing such as may not be necessary; and
5. To eliminate overlapping and duplication of effort.
The plan I now transmit I shall describe briefly as follows:
I proposed to transfer the Foreign Commerce Service of the United States and its functions now in the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the Department of Commerce and the Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States and its functions in the Department of Agriculture to the Department of State, and to consolidate them with the Foreign Service of the United States under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of State.
By this transfer and consolidation, there will be a single Foreign Service in the Department of State, but this does not mean that the interests of the commercial and agricultural communities are to be neglected, for it is a part of the Plan that representatives of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Commerce shall be placed on the Board of Foreign Service Personnel and that specific investigations relating to commerce and agriculture shall be initiated directly by the Secretaries of these two Departments who will receive directly the results of investigations in their own fields.
A much greater degree of coordination and effectiveness in our foreign establishments can be achieved under the plan than has ever before been possible. The needs of the different Departments and Agencies of the Government will be met more efficiently and the responsiveness of the foreign establishments to these needs will be greatly improved.
The plan presupposes that it may be necessary from time to time for various Departments and Agencies of the Government to send abroad specialists and technicians for relatively temporary duty. While these will not be in the Foreign Service, strictly speaking, they will be given a suitable commission by the Department of State, on a temporary basis, so that they may have the same obligations as other officers of the Foreign Service while on duty abroad.
The plan also presupposes a special training period within the Department of Commerce and the Department of Agriculture for Foreign Service officers selected to specialize in commercial or agricultural work and contemplates the fullest utilization of the experience gained abroad by Foreign Service officers in the work of the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture in this country. There will be stationed in the Department of State a liaison officer of the Department of Commerce and of the Department of Agriculture to make effective the proposed cooperation.
The plan specifically leaves undisturbed the relationships of the Department of Commerce and of the Department of Agriculture with the commercial and agricultural communities. What it does do is to consolidate the foreign services into one Foreign Service in the Department of State, where it ought to be, with the resulting advantages of economy, efficiency, better functional grouping, elimination of overlapping and duplication of effort, and greater service to our commercial and agricultural interests.
There is also transferred to the Department of State the Foreign Service Buildings Commission and its functions. This Commission is advisory to the administrative work of the Department of State and should no longer have the status of an independent establishment.
The Bureau of Lighthouses now in the Department of Commerce is transferred to the Treasury Department and consolidated with the Coast Guard in that Department. The advantages of this consolidation are obvious and fall clearly within the provision of the act requiring me to consolidate agencies according to major purposes. This will save money on equipment and administration and will permit the better use of personnel.
The plan also includes the abolition of the Office of the Director General of Railroads and of the War Finance Corporation and the transfer of their functions to the Secretary of the Treasury to be wound up by him as rapidly as may be. In the case of the War Finance Corporation, it is directed that the final dissolution shall be accomplished not later than December 31, 1939.
I further propose to transfer to the Department of Justice the Federal Prison Industries, Inc., and the National Training School for Boys, and at the same time to abolish the board of trustees of the National Training School for Boys. Responsibility for the Federal penal and correctional institutions is in the Department of Justice and these two independent establishments should be consolidated therein. None of the other Federal penal or correctional institutions has a board of trustees and there is no need of further continuing the board of the National Training School.
The plan also provides for the abolition of the Codification Board established for the purpose of codifying existing administrative law and the transfer of its functions to the Division of the Federal Register in the National Archives. The work of this board has now progressed to the point where a separate board is no longer necessary and the future work of keeping the codification up to date can more efficiently and economically be carried on by the editorial staff of the Federal Register.
I find it necessary and desirable in order to accomplish the purposes of the Reorganization Act to abolish the National Bituminous Coal Commission and to transfer its functions to the Secretary of the Interior. Thus the task of conserving the bituminous-coal resources of the country may be carried on directly by the head of the Department principally responsible for the conservation of fuel and other mineral supplies. The Congress placed this Commission in the Department of the Interior, but experience has shown that direct administration will be cheaper, better, and more effective than through the cumbersome medium of an unnecessary commission.
The transfer to the Department of the Interior of the Bureau of Insular Affairs in the War Department and its consolidation with the Division of Territories and Island Possessions in Interior is a functional transfer of obvious desirability. Under the provisions of existing law, however, I shall direct, where necessary, that certain correspondence from the Governor General of the Philippines shall be transmitted to the President through the Department of State.
The plan provides for the transfer to the Department of the Interior of the Bureau of Fisheries from the Department of Commerce and of the Bureau of Biological Survey from the Department of Agriculture. These two Bureaus have to do with conservation and utilization of the wildlife resources of the country, terrestrial and aquatic. Therefore, they should be grouped under the same departmental administration, and in that Department which, more than any other, is directly responsible for the administration and conservation of the public domain. However, I intend to direct that the facilities of the Department of Agriculture shall continue to be used for research studies which have to do with the protection of domestic animals from diseases of wildlife; and also where most economical for the protection to farmers and stockmen against predatory animals.
The plan also provides for the transfer of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission to the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior in order that this great memorial may be administered as a part of the similar work of the Park Service.
Included in the plan is a provision to transfer to the Department of Agriculture the Rural Electrification Administration, now operated as an independent establishment. The work of this administration in its educational as well as its lending functions is clearly a part of the rural life activities of the country and should, therefore, be administered in coordination with the other agricultural activities of the Government.
The Inland Waterways Corporation is transferred to the Department of Commerce from the War Department. This corporation, which operates inland waterways transportation facilities, should be coordinated with the administration of other aids to commerce and industry.
I propose to transfer to the Federal Security Agency, for administration in the Office of Education, the film and radio functions of the National Emergency Council. These are clearly a part of the educational activities of the Government and should be consolidated with similar activities already carried on in the Office of Education. Similarly, Government participation in the work of the American Printing House for the Blind, except fiscal functions relating to trust funds, is transferred from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Federal Security Agency, in order that this work may be coordinated with the other work for the blind now being carried on in the Social Security Board.
The plan provides for the abolition of the National Emergency Council and the transfer to the Executive Office of the President of all its functions with the exception of the film and radio activities which go to the Office of Education. Subject to appropriations by the Congress, these activities transferred to the White House would be administered in the manner best designed to give the President the information he requires from all parts of the country.
The National Emergency Council was established by Executive order in 1933 and is composed of the President, the Vice President, the Members of the Cabinet, and the heads of some 23 independent establishments. Its usefulness as an actual council, which met weekly under my chairmanship, was very great in the period of the emergency which then confronted the country, but, as time has gone on, it no longer operates as a council but does continue to carry on important activities which are indispensable to the President of the United States, as well as to other branches of the Government, and the public. It maintains an information service and a press intelligence service, it publishes the United States Government Manual, and it carries on through State and central staffs an important work of coordinating and reporting.
The information service makes available general information concerning all phases of governmental activity and is provided for all who submit questions or inquiries by mail, by telephone, or by personal call. In one sense it may be called a post-office address-"Uncle Sam, Post Office Box No. 1, Washington, D.C."-to which persons who want information about the Government but do not know the exact division or agency of the Government to which to apply, may write with confidence that their questions will be answered or else sent on to the proper agency for direct reply.
The press intelligence service carried on in the Council is not a service for giving intelligence to the press, but rather for making available to responsible persons in the Government, both in the executive and in the legislative branches, a clipping service, which shows what the press of the country has printed. The partial consolidation of clipping services in this unit-a consolidation which should go further-already has resulted in economy and convenience. A clipping service of this kind, on a smaller scale, was maintained for many years in the White House but it was not then available to other branches of the Government. Its return to the White House with the additional feature of availability to all the rest of the Government will promote efficiency without violating tradition.
The publication of the United States Government Manual makes available to every citizen a simplified textbook of information as to the organization and availability of the Federal agencies. Published in loose-leaf form, it is sold by the Superintendent of Documents of the Government Printing Office.
The coordinating and reporting functions of the Council have to do with the presentation to the President of factual information, independently gathered, as to the progress and effect of our governmental activities. Through its State offices the Council has been able to facilitate the various Federal programs particularly with respect to State and local governments.
The plan also includes certain general provisions in order to accomplish fully the purposes of the act. In addition to the transfer of bureaus and other units, it is necessary also to transfer certain functions of heads of departments; to transfer records, property, and personnel; to transfer funds; and to provide that the power of appointment occasionally, and sometimes apparently quite accidentally, vested in a subordinate official of a department, shall be vested in the head of the department. It is impossible to exercise the proper direction and supervision over subordinate units unless the definite power of appointment, fixing of compensation, transfer, and promotion or dismissal of personnel is vested in the principal responsible head. In no other way can the purpose of consolidating similar functions under a single head as required by the act be accomplished in practice.
It is one of the five purposes of the Reorganization Act "to reduce expenditures to the fullest extent consistent with the efficient operation of the Government." This is an important purpose in each phase of the plan here presented. The Reorganization Act prohibits abolishing functions-in other words, basic services or activities performed. Therefore, the reduction in expenditures must necessarily be brought about chiefly in the overhead administrative expenses of the agencies affected. In a great many cases the economies to be effected by Reorganization Plan No. II will be the result of improved efficiency which will, as the plan works out, require fewer persons to perform the work or will require the employment of less temporary assistance.
In the case of the consolidation of the foreign services it is estimated that the administration by a single administrative unit in the Department of State will achieve a saving of $20,000 a year and that consolidation of the three field forces will make it possible to drop alien employees and, by a more effective use of personnel, to save an additional $100,000 a year when the readjustments have been made.
The total administrative expense of all of the agencies affected by this plan is about $25,000,000 per annum.
The reduction of such expenditures, which it is probable will be brought about by the taking effect of the reorganizations specified in the plan, is estimated at $1,250,000 per annum. Certain of these economies can be brought about at once. Others will require a gradual readjustment in machinery and business practices of the agencies affected.
May I repeat what I said in my message transmitting Reorganization Plan No. I, that in this as in future reorganization plans not every person will agree on each and every detail. Out of the many groupings and regroupings proposed, a few of the individual agencies conceivably could be placed elsewhere, but I have been seeking to consider the functional purpose of each agency as required by the Reorganization Act itself and have made this plan with the sole purpose of improving the service rendered by the Government to its citizens in accordance with the purposes set out in the act.
In view of the fact that it is now May 9, and that any reorganization plan must lie before the Congress for 60 calendar days, and because the reorganization of an intradepartmental character requires a great deal of research and careful painstaking detailed work, I do not propose to send any further general reorganization plans to the Congress at this session.
However, there are certain transfers, abolitions, and consolidations of committees, commissions, and boards which I propose to do by means of Executive and military orders under existing law as complementary to Reorganization Plan No. II when it becomes effective.
Then, also, by mere administrative procedure, some small agencies which have been listed in various publications as independent establishments but whose independence has no basis in law or in formal Executive or military orders, may be reassigned to an appropriate placement by administrative procedure on the part of their respective heads.
Not all of the interdepartmental transfers and consolidations that are necessary and desirable have been accomplished in this Reorganization Plan No. II. I am directing the Bureau of the Budget to study these problems in order that they may be included in plans to be transmitted to the Congress at its next session.
For example, in order to save money and to do the work more efficiently there are some units which should be divided so that a part of the work may be done by one agency and a part by another. Take, for example, the business of mapping. It is obviously important that the work of making surveys and accumulating data for maps should be done in the various agencies which are concerned primarily with the purpose for which the map is being drawn. On the other hand, the business of manufacturing maps might very well be consolidated in order to save money, and to manufacture better maps.
I have considered the desirability of transferring the jurisdiction over deportable aliens from the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice, but I find that this matter will require further study, or perhaps legislation, and therefore it is not included in this plan.
I have also considered the problem of certain public lands insofar as they present overlapping jurisdiction between the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture.
Insofar as crops, including tree crops, are involved there is something to be said for their retention in the Department of Agriculture. But where lands are to be kept for the primary purpose of recreation and permanent public use and conservation they fall more logically into the Department of the Interior.
I hope to offer a reorganization plan on this early in the next session.
There are other types of work carried on in the Federal Government where it may prove necessary and desirable to divide the functions now being carried on by a particular unit so as the better to serve the basic purpose for which the work was undertaken. Such problems I shall continue to study with the view of sending other reorganization plans involving both interdepartmental and intradepartmental reorganizations to the Congress at its next session.
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Ex. Ord. No. 8357. Administration of the Foreign Service
Ex. Ord. No. 8357 Mar. 2, 1940, 5 F.R. 950, provided:
Under the authority vested in me by section 1(b) of Part I of Reorganization Plan No. II (effective July 1, 1939, by Public Resolution approved June 7, 1939,
1. Officers designated by the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Agriculture under subdivisions (2) and (3), respectively, of the said section 1(b) of Part I of Reorganization Plan No. II may, when acceptable to the Secretary of State, be sent abroad as specialists or technicians for temporary service under the provisions of, and subject to the conditions named in, section 5 of the act of March 3, 1927,
2. The Secretary of State shall give suitable commissions to the officers described in paragraph 1 hereof and shall assign them to such offices as may be deemed necessary by him and the Secretary of the department concerned. Such officers, during the active period of their assignment, shall be considered a part of the organization of the Foreign Service, shall assume the status directed by the Secretary of State, and shall, in this respect, be subject to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State. With the approval of the chief of the office to which they are attached, such officers may request reports from Foreign Service officers upon matters falling within the jurisdiction of their respective departments. The duties of such officers shall be restricted to the accomplishment of the special missions within the scope of their assignments.
3. The officers designated by the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Agriculture under subdivision (4) of the said section 1(b) of Part I of Reorganization Plan No. II to serve in the Department of State as liaison officers shall, when acceptable to the Secretary of State, serve in matters of interest to their respective departments.