Can or Will the govt. take it:

Here is the current version (Executive Order 12656) of what is mis-quoted a lot on the internet (Executive Order 10998, which was signed by President Kennedy in 1962 (yr.?), right from the government's site. I did not read the whole thing, and yes, it needs authority for their excecution to be authorized by law [Sec. 102(b)]. See Part 2, Sec. 203 and 204, and all of Part 3:

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/12656.html