Order 65 was one of the 150 contingency orders that the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic were trained to carry out in the event of different emergency scenarios during the Clone Wars. Order 65 stated that if a majority of the Senate or the Security Council declared that the Supreme Chancellor—at that time Palpatine—was unfit for duty, the Chancellor was to be arrested or, if necessary, killed.

Order 65 was the sixty-fifth of the 150 contingency orders developed by the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Like all 150 contingency orders—which dealt with a variety of different emergency situations—the clone troopers of the Grand Army were trained to carry out Order 65 without hesitation.

Order 65 stated that if either a majority of the Galactic Senate or the Republic Security Council deemed the Supreme Chancellor—the Supreme Commander of the Grand Army and an office held by Palpatine during the war—unfit for duty, and if the clone forces directly received Order 65, then the army was to immediately arrest or, if needed, kill the Chancellor. Following this, command of the Grand Army would be given to the acting Chancellor until a stable replacement could be chosen.