Executive Order 13529 and Letter Regarding Haiti

Attached are an Executive Order and a letter signed by the President yesterday, January 16th regarding ordering the selected reserve and certain individual ready reserve members of the Armed Forces to active duty.

This Executive Order will help the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security support the relief effort in Haiti. It will be used on a limited basis, principally to support targeted functions associated with this humanitarian mission. For instance, it will allow for the call-up of reserve medical personnel to replace those deployed on the hospital ship Comfort and it will allow for the deployment of a Coast Guard unit that will help provide port security.