President aims to curtail number of advisory agencies

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is trying to take an ax to federal advisory committees, ordering that their numbers be slashed.

Trump signed an executive order Friday that directs every federal agency to evaluate the need for all of its advisory committees created under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. And it gives agency heads until September to terminate at least onethird of current committees created by agency heads.

Federal advisory committees are typically made up of private citizens who offer advice and assistance to the executive branch.

The White House did not immediately provide any justification for the order. But it appears to assume that many of the committees are redundant or have been convened to address issues that are now obsolete.

It says that committees will be eliminated if their “stated objectives” have been accomplished, if the “subject matter or work of the committee has become obsolete,” if their “primary functions have been assumed by another entity” and if the agency determines “the cost of operation is excessive in relation to the benefits to the Federal Government.”

The order does not apply to merit review panels, like those that reward grants to the National Institutes of Health or provide scientific expertise to agencies about product safety. Agencies may request waivers from the Office of Management and Budget, and those with fewer than three eligible committees will be exempt.

The U.S. General Services Administration, which helps oversee FACA implementation, says there are approximately 1,000 federal advisory committees and 50 federal agencies with FACA programs in effect at any given time.

The order is aimed at capping the total number of committees at 350, and will bar agencies from establishing new committees without waivers until the number drops.