# Further Exclusions From the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program
This executive order expands the list of federal agencies and subdivisions excluded from Chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code, which governs federal labor-management relations and collective bargaining rights for federal employees. The order invokes authority under section 7103(b)(1) to exclude agencies determined to have primary functions in intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work. Significantly, the order applies this national security rationale to largely civilian science, trade, infrastructure, and media entities—a substantive expansion beyond traditional intelligence and investigative agencies. This represents a precedent-setting reclassification that broadens the scope of what constitutes "primary" national security functions, potentially opening pathways for excluding additional civilian missions from federal labor-management protections. The administration characterizes these exclusions as necessary to enhance national security, asserting that the federal labor-management relations framework cannot be applied to the designated entities in a manner consistent with national security requirements.
The order amends Executive Order 12171 of November 19, 1979, by adding specific agencies and subdivisions to the exclusion list, with varying scope. Two agencies are excluded in their entirety: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the United States Agency for Global Media. Within the Department of Commerce, the entire International Trade Administration is excluded, while other exclusions are limited to specific subdivisions—only the Office of the Commissioner for Patents and subordinate units within the Patent and Trademark Office, and only two subdivisions within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service and the National Weather Service). Within the Department of the Interior, only Bureau of Reclamation units with primary responsibility for operating, managing, or maintaining hydropower facilities are excluded, not the entire bureau. Additionally, the order extends the deadline for the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to issue orders pursuant to Executive Order 14251 by 15 days from the date of this order, providing these cabinet officials additional time to complete exclusion determinations for their respective departments.
Implementation responsibility falls primarily to the heads of the affected agencies, who must apply these exclusions to their labor-management relations programs. The order includes standard severability and general provisions clauses, stipulating that implementation must occur consistent with applicable law and subject to appropriations availability. The practical effect of these exclusions is the removal of collective bargaining rights and other labor-management protections for employees in the designated entities, fundamentally altering workplace governance structures in agencies ranging from space exploration to international broadcasting. The distinction between full-agency and unit-specific exclusions materially affects workforce impact and implementation complexity, with full-agency exclusions at NASA and USAGM representing broader organizational change than the targeted subdivision exclusions elsewhere. The order does not specify a particular implementation timeline beyond the 15-day extension for Defense and Veterans Affairs, suggesting the exclusions take effect immediately upon publication.