Executive Orders & Public Laws

The following executive orders and public laws provide authorities for and guide the work of the Office of Insular Affairs and inform the work of the Secretary of the Interior in carrying out responsibilities for the Insular Areas. The Insular Areas are comprised of the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and the freely associated states which are the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

Executive Orders, Secretarial Orders, and Departmental Manual

• U.S. Virgin Islands – Executive Order 5566, February 27, 1931
• Guam - Executive Order 10137, August 1, 1950
• American Samoa – Executive Order 10264, July 1, 1951
  • Secretarial Order #3009 – Elected Governor and Lt. Governor of American Samoa
• U.S. Virgin Islands – Revised Organic Act of 1954
• Executive Order 11021—Administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands by the Secretary of the Interior, 1962 (Superceded by Executive Order 12569)
• Secretarial Order #2918 – Government of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, 1968
• Executive Order 12569--Management of the Compact of Free Association with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau, 1986
• Northern Mariana Islands – Executive Order 12572, November 3, 1986
• Territorial and International Affairs – Departmental Manual 575, April 27, 1989
• Coral Reef Protection – Executive Order 13089, June 11, 1998
• Establishment of IGIA – Executive Order 13299, May 8, 2003
• Establishment of Assistant Secretary – Insular Areas, July 2, 2009, Secretarial Order #3287
• White House Co-Chair of IGIA, Executive Order 13537, April 14, 2010
• Renaming and Restructuring the Office of the Assistant Secretary, Secretarial Order #3361, February 1, 2018
• OMB Controller Alert 23-04, Waiving Matching Fund Requirements for Insular Areas, February 6, 2023 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) 

• Office of Insular Affairs' CFDA number is 15.875

Public Laws

Public Laws Guiding Interior’s Responsibilities for the Territories and Freely Associated States

• Treaty of 1898 Between Spain and the U.S. Regarding Guam
• 1917 Proclamation on Cession of the Danish West Indies - Treaty No.629, 39 Stat. 1706"
• Public Law 90-496, sec.13, August 23, 1968 – USVI and Federal Government relations under Interior 
• Public Law 90-497, sec.12(a), September 11, 1968 Guam and Federal Government relations under Interior  
• Methods of Assistance to Insular Areas – Public Law 96-597, sec.601(a), December 24, 1980
• Executive Order 11021—Administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands by the Secretary of the Interior (superceded by Executive Order 12569)
• Termination of the U.S. Trusteeship – Proclamation 5564, November 3, 1986
• Presidential Proclamation No. 6726, 59 Federal Register 49777 (Sept. 27, 1994) - Entry into Force of Palau Compact, October 1, 1994
• Proclamation 6763 December 23, 1994 – Duty Free Treatment to Products of Palau

Compacts of Free Association

• Executive Order 11021—Administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands by the Secretary of the Interior (superceded by Executive Order 12569)
   
• Implementation of Section 177 of the Compact of Free Association Between the U.S. and the RMI – Signed June 25, 1983
   
• Public Law 99-239, January 14, 1986 Compact of Free Association – FSM & RMI
   
• Executive Order 12569--Management of the Compact of Free Association With the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau
   
• Public Law 99-658, November 14, 1986 (EIF: October 1, 1994) Palau Compact of Free Association
  • Subsidiary Agreements Between the U.S. and Palau

• Public Law 108-188, signed April 30, 2003, Amended Compact of Free Association – RMI
• Public Law 108-188, signed May 14, 2003, Amended Compact of Free Association – FSM
  • Subsidiary Agreements Between the U.S. and the Federated States of Micronesia
  • FSM-US Fiscal Procedures Agreement
  • Subsidiary Agreements Between the U.S. and the Marshall Islands
  • RMI-US Fiscal Procedures Agreement
  • Agreement to Amend Article X, Disaster Preparedness and Response Services, of the Federal Programs and Services Agreement Between the United States and the Marshall Islands
• 2010 Palau Compact Section 432 Review Agreement w/appendices, September 3, 2010
   
• 2010 Palau Compact Section 432 Review Agreement, Signed September 19, 2018