The White House ordered agencies Monday to step up recruitment of veterans for federal jobs.

In a new executive order, President Barack Obama established the Veterans Employment Initiative requiring agencies to:

• Develop a plan to promote employment opportunities to veterans.

• Establish a Veterans Employment Program office to develop and carry out the plan within 120 days of the order.

• Provide annual training for human resources managers to ensure they're giving veterans preference and are exercising special hiring authorities for veterans.

To oversee the initiative, Obama also established an interagency Council on Veteran's Employment led by the Labor and Veterans Affairs departments, and the Office of Personnel Management. The council will:

• Coordinate governmentwide recruitment and training to increase the number of veterans agencies employ.

• Serve as a forum for promoting employment opportunities to veterans.

• Establish ways to measure the effectiveness of the initiative.