On March 13, 2026, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) titled “Adjusting Certain Delegations Under the Defense Production Act.” As we have covered in prior blog posts, the Defense Production Act (DPA) has traditionally been considered the primary federal means to manage and support defense production.
The March 13th EO seeks to clarify and define certain aspects of two prior DPA-related EOs—EO 13603, “National Defense Resources Preparedness,” dated March 16, 2012, and EO 14156, “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” dated January 20, 2025. As such, the new EO is best understood in light of these two prior, related EOs.
EO 13603: The Government’s DPA Operating Manual
EO 13603 is essentially the Government’s longstanding operating manual for using the DPA.
The DPA gives the President a number of powerful authorities to ensure that the United States maintains an industrial and technological base capable of meeting national defense requirements in both peacetime and national emergencies. These authorities include the ability to prioritize contracts, allocate materials, and support expansion of industrial capacity. But those authorities would be impractical if the President had to exercise them personally. EO 13603 solves that problem by delegating those authorities across the executive branch.
In practical terms, EO 13603 authorizes officials to use the DPA’s “priorities and allocations” authorities to require companies to prioritize government contracts or allocate scarce resources in support of national defense programs.
For purposes of exercising those authorities, the EO assigns responsibility for different sectors of the economy to designated executive branch departments:
- The Secretary of Agriculture receives authority over food resources.
- The Secretary of Energy receives authority over energy resources.
- The Secretary of Transportation receives authority over civil transportation.
- The Secretary of Health and Human Services receives authority over health resources.
- The Secretary of Defense receives authority over water resources.
- The Secretary of Commerce receives authority over most other industrial materials and services.
EO 13603 also delegates the President’s authorities under Title III of the DPA, which allows agencies to strengthen industrial capacity. Agencies can use those authorities to make and guarantee loans, provide purchase commitments, and fund expansion of production capabilities when necessary to address national defense-related supply chain shortfalls.
In addition to delegating operational authorities, EO 13603 establishes a broader coordination framework for industrial mobilization. Among other things, it creates the Defense Production Act Committee, assigns analytical responsibilities across agencies for assessing industrial capacity, and establishes mechanisms such as the National Defense Executive Reserve for mobilizing private sector expertise during national defense emergencies.
The key point is that EO 13603 is not itself an emergency measure. Instead, it is a standing delegation framework. It determines who within the federal government can exercise DPA authorities when they are needed.
EO 14156: Accelerating Domestic Energy Production
EO 14156, issued in 2025, operates at a different level. It declares that weaknesses in U.S. energy production and infrastructure (defined as including critical minerals production and refining) constitute a national emergency. Accordingly, the EO directs agencies to take steps to accelerate domestic energy development and infrastructure.
Importantly, EO 14156 encourages agencies to consider using emergency authorities—including those under the DPA—to address energy supply constraints. However, the EO also suggests that agencies should recommend certain actions to the President before exercising those authorities.
This suggestion created some ambiguity, because EO 13603 had already delegated many DPA authorities to agency heads.
What the March 13, 2026, EO—“Adjusting Certain Delegations”—Does
Against this backdrop, the March 13th EO addresses two primary issues. First, it modifies the delegation structure established by EO 13603, particularly with respect to energy-related authorities. EO 13603 concentrated certain authorities related to maximizing domestic energy supply at the Department of Commerce. The new order adjusts those delegations so that the Secretary of Energy may exercise those authorities directly as well. See EO Sec. 2.
Legally, this means that the Department of Energy now has clearer and more direct authority to invoke relevant DPA tools to address energy-related supply chain issues, such as those involving energy infrastructure, grid equipment, or energy-related industrial capacity. Over time, this could contribute to a gradual reorientation of energy‑focused DPA industrial policy from the Department of Commerce toward the Department of Energy, a shift that—if it materializes—would carry important consequences for critical minerals, grid infrastructure, and AI/data‑center energy supply chains.
Second, the new EO clarifies how EO 14156 should be interpreted, presumably in an effort to remove potential procedural uncertainty. Specifically, it explains that when an agency already has delegated authority under EO 13603, the agency head may exercise that authority directly, as appropriate. A recommendation to the President is required only where the relevant authority remains reserved to the President by statute or has not been delegated.
While it remains to be seen whether the new EO will meaningfully streamline the national defense resource preparedness framework, its issuance reflects the administration’s broader and recurring emphasis on effective, decisive, and timely execution.
The President appears intent on signaling that the authorities delegated under the DPA are not merely available in principle, but are expected to be affirmatively exercised by agency heads where appropriate. Against this backdrop, federal contractors and grant recipients should closely monitor how and by whom these authorities are operationalized in practice, particularly as agencies clarify sector-specific roles and priorities.