Can some of our more astute lawyerly people chime in on Cheney’s assertion that he has the constitutional authority to declassify national security information?
Okay I found a few things.... -------------- Can Cheney be His Own Declassification Machine? In my view, the law says "No". . .but I have little doubt Alberto Gonzales and his minions will construct a rationale that says otherwise. But I have run across some interesting information -- and have some questions that we should all pose to those at the helm in the White House. Executive Order 12958 on "Classified National Security Information" was promulgated by President Clinton on April 17, 1995. This Executive Order "prescribes a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information." In this 1995 Executive Order, the VICE PRESIDENT is mentioned only one time -- and only in such a way that the automatic, 25-year declassification of historically important documents can be preempted if declassification would "impair the ability of responsible United States Government officials to protect the President, the Vice President, and other individuals." Now, let's move to the March 25, 2003 Executive Order by President Bush, No. 13292, that amends President Clinton's Executive Order on National Security Information. The Vice President's "presence" in the Executive Order increased by 1000%. Instead of just one mention in the Executive Order, Cheney's office is referred to eleven times. This hyping of Cheney's and his staff's role in the management of secrets is a further testament to the historically unique power that Cheney's vice-presidency amassed in the period after 9/11/2001. Briefly, in the amended Executive Order, Dick Cheney and presumably future VPs are affected by this National Security Information presidential order in the following ways: 1. The Vice President, in the context of his duties, has the authority to "classify" information; 2. The Vice President, in the context of his duties, can give a "top secret" classification to information; 3. The Vice President can give a "secret" or "confidential" classification to information; 4. Like in the previous 1995 Executive Order, the automatic, 25-year declassification of national security information can be preempted if it would impair the ability to "protect" the Vice President from physical harm; 5. Mandatory declassification review (by a designated process) is required of information originating from the Vice President; 6. Mandatory declassification review is required from the Vice President's staff; 7. Access to certain national security information can be provided to individuals who occupied policy-making positions appointed by the Vice President (or President of course) 8. Rules barring access to certain classified national security information will be waived for the Vice President; 9. Waivers to rules of access to classified national security information will only apply to Vice Presidential appointees in areas of their policy work while working as an Executive Branch appointee; 10. This mention of the VP only relates to the above line saying that access to classified national security information will only be provided to Presdidential and Vice Presidential appointees in the area of his or her policy work that was done during the tenure of that respective President or Vice President; 11. "'Original classification authority' means an individual authorized in writing, either by the President, the Vice President in the performance of executive duties. . ." This is a definitional item in the Executive Order. There is NOTHING HERE that indicates that the Vice President has any embedded authority to be a declassification machine unto himself. This matter is important because Vice Presdident Cheney slipped into his interview with Brit Hume yesterday his belief that he has the ability to declassify national security information -- and implying that there is an Executive Order that allows him to do it. Vice President Cheney is right that he has the ability to classify materials; that is clear from the Executive Order. It is also clear, however, that the rules and processes for CLASSIFYING national security information are completely different than DECLASSIFYING information. That is evident from reading the structure of the Executive Order itself. So, Cheney is engaged in Executive Branch over-reach again, implying he has a power that is not designated. This is the issue that the nation should be focused on -- and in TWN's view, it is far more important than Cheney's hunting accident and even his obsession with making the White House opaque to this country's citizens. If Cheney authorized Scooter Libby to leak classified national security secrets, then Cheney broke the law and should be investigated. GOP presidential hopeful George Allen agrees. One lucid observer shared with me the thought this morning that there may, in fact, be "classified" aspects to the March 2003 Executive Order that we mere members of the public are not privy too. But let's warn the White House now: Secret Orders that give the President or Vice President secret new powers are not consistent in any way with democracy and this nation's heritage. TWN doubts that the authority to classify or declassify information would have been issued in a secret way -- as it is clear that one of the purposes of the 2003 Executive Order amendment was to give Vice President Cheney and his office much more presence in the management of secrets -- and the White House wanted to make VP Cheney's role overt, not hidden. -- Steve Clemons http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001253.php Here's more... Can Cheney Declassify At Will? Eschaton asked if this claim by Dick Cheney about his declassification authority, from his “interview” by Fox News, was true: BRIT HUME: ...Is it your view that a Vice President has the authority to declassify information? CHENEY: There is an executive order to that effect. HUME: There is. CHENEY: Yes. HUME: Have you done it? CHENEY: Well, I've certainly advocated declassification and participated in declassification decisions. The executive order -- HUME: You ever done it unilaterally? CHENEY: I don't want to get into that. There is an executive order that specifies who has classification authority, and obviously focuses first and foremost on the President, but also includes the Vice President. So, is that true? Not exactly. The executive order that Cheney is referring to is one that Bush issued in March 2003 -- a few days after the Iraq War began, and few months before the Plame leak. That order revamped a prior Clinton Administration order. (The Clinton order sought to reduce overclassification and increase transparency. Bush’s order junked that in favor of easier secrecy.) Under Clinton, the Vice President already had what’s called “original classification authority,” the authority to classify information in the first place. But classification authority is not the same as declassification authority (Bush’s order explicitly defines them separately). If you, or a subordinate of yours, originally classified something, you have the power to declassify that something. But you do not have the power to declassify something that was classified in a different agency. Since everyone in the executive branch is subordinate to the President, the President can declassify at will (except for specific items that are outlawed by Congress, say for example, the identities of covert agents). But that is not necessarily the case for the Vice President. According to the Wall Street Journal, this is a matter of debate: The vice president's authority to declassify is less clear. Some legal scholars believe that Mr. Cheney would share in the president's authority, as an elected official. Alternatively, the president could delegate his declassification authority to the vice president. But in Bush’s executive order, the Vice President is not granted equivalent declassification authority. Bush did give the Vice President more power than Clinton had allowed – specifically, an exemption from a mandatory review process when there is a declassification request. But that is not the same as giving Cheney the broad declassification authority that the President has. Further, the National Journal report that Cheney told the now-indicted Scooter Libby to leak classified info, did not involve info classified by the VP office – it involved a National Intelligence Estimate drafted by the National Intelligence Council at the request of Congress. So he should not have had the authority to arbitrarily declassify the NIE and send Libby out to clandestinely disseminate the info to select people. Of course, Bush could have arbitrarily declassified it and given Cheney directions to send Libby out. That would be legal, though in the words of one secrecy expert, “sleazy.” And that would not give them the legal authority to break any laws regarding covert identities. It’s also worth noting that Bush’s executive order did slip in this loophole: In an emergency, when necessary to respond to an imminent threat to life or in defense of the homeland, the agency head or any designee may authorize the disclosure of classified information to an individual or individuals who are otherwise not eligible for access. Surely, stopping Joe Wilson from exposing the dishonesty of the Niger-uranium claim was just such an emergency. http://www.liberaloasis.com/archives/021206.htm#021606 Looks like it's pretty clear cut that Cheney is speaking out his booty when he claims he has declassification athority.
You must remember...when reading the opinion of a lawyer...that if lawyers were always right...we wouldn't need trials. Can we just agree he's an assclown?
excuse me mark, you post something from the "liberal oasis" (where it's always midnight, and the camels are warm!) and touted it as "pretty clear cut?" are you smoking the same thing andy is? on a side note, should we start a coutdown to 1k posts in this thread, sort of like the 1B songs sold via iTunes? 1k poster gets a free autographed copy of joe wilson's hotel bar bill from Niger.
That liberal oasis post has more substance than anything shown to back up Cheney's claim about declassifying what ever he wants. I would like to see other justifications from other sources. So far the Cheney supporters haven't provided any. Did you find something in analasis by liberal oasis that you particularly disagreed with?
be happy to, once there's some actual news- right now it's all just idle, mindless, groundless speculation from the "keep hope alive" faction of the democratic party, that faction that cares more about killing this presidency, than about killing...oh, never mind...
I think that instead, we should have a fancy line graph illustrating how many times you've had to raise your threshold for certainty of innocence from the beggining of the thread to present.
And everything that comes from the "keep fear alive" faction of the Republican party is mindless rhetoric. Judging from their actions over the past 6 years, they obviously care a great deal more about enriching themselves and keeping themselves in power than they care about the truth.
This is a long thread that has stayed more on-topic and has more substance than 99% of all other D&D threads. The reports posted in here have substance with very little refutation from any conservative source. I think your lack of posting in the thread has little to do with lack of substance, and more with the fact that as time passes, there is les and less ground to refute the accusations, and more and more to make them. After all, you started the thread thinking we're fools for even imagining a NY Times writer protected a source in the WH. You were dead wrong on that, and still didn't own up to it, even when called on it. At this point, your best defense is that the liberal media outlets reporting this are just making up the sources and leaks. If the leaks are true, and some were picked up by all major journals, this is very damning stuff.
A nice post I certainly agree with. It continues to amaze me how those who have apparently bought into this personality cult (referenced here: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=108723&page=1&pp=20), continue to do so. There is little Republican about this Administration, in the traditional sense, at all. I admire several real Republicans, particularly in "real life," outside of this BBS. There are obviously some here, but far more obsessed (in my opinion) with Bush. Most strange, at least to me. I frequently say things critical of national Democrats, but rarely see that occur here, regarding the Administration. All I see are continual excuses for their actions, which would often be amusing, if the people they are making excuses for weren't "running" the country. Keeep D&D Civil.
I didn't start the thread. and when Fitz charges someone for leaking plame's name, i'll be happy to weigh in. i've weighed in on the substance, several pages back, of libby's indictment. i'm skeptical he'll be convicted, but we'll see. As far as what started this whole kerfuffle, no one has yet proved anyone other than joe himself, or the head of PR at CIA, did anything to out Plame. when they do, you'll find me here.
can you privde any evidence at all from all your posts, and mine, in the history of this bbs, where either I've "bought into the bush personality cult" or you've been critical of national democrats, even once, much less "frequently?" thanks in advance!
