The phrase "a direct order to" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when specifying a command or instruction that is clear and unambiguous.
Example: "The manager issued a direct order to complete the project by the end of the week."
Alternatives: "a clear command to" or "an explicit instruction to".
This isn't a direct order to help the Contras, but it's a clear directive not to wait around for the intent of Congress to emerge when it comes to the struggle against the Central American left.
Contact!' and gave Holmes a direct order to initiate fire".
But the president chose not to issue a direct order to the general.
Those officials acknowledged, however, that no White House lawyer gave a direct order to preserve the tapes or advised that destroying them would be illegal.
I told them that if they refused a direct order to do so I would have no alternative but to court-martial them.
The charges relied primarily on the testimony of a witness who said he had heard Mrs. Arroyo giving a direct order to the governor to rig the results.
But the official said that C.I.A. officials had continued to press the White House for a firm decision, and that the C.I.A. was never given a direct order not to destroy the tapes.
Even though I'd done nothing wrong, I apologized, and sure enough, two days later, Jones had written me up for "refusing a direct order," "failure to maintain sanitation," and "disturbing the peace".
The pilot, his wingman and Broughton were faced with charges of violating a direct order not to fire on Soviet ships.
Klingenschmitt claimed, and continues to claim, that he was booted out of the Navy because of the form of his prayers, when, in reality, he deliberately got himself court-martialed by disobeying a direct order not to appear in uniform at a political rally, an activity that is strictly prohibited by military regulations.
There was never a direct order, 'you have to do this if you want to be on the team', that never happened.
