Cheney exempts his own office from reporting on classified material

[sabra]

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/politics/14462039.htm

Cheney exempts his own office from reporting on classified material
BY MARK SILVA
Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON - As the Bush administration has dramatically accelerated the classification of information as "top secret" or "confidential," one office is refusing to report on its annual activity in classifying documents: the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.

A standing executive order, strengthened by President Bush in 2003, requires all agencies and "any other entity within the executive branch" to provide an annual accounting of their classification of documents. More than 80 agencies have collectively reported to the National Archives that they made 15.6 million decisions in 2004 to classify information, nearly double the number in 2001, but Cheney continues to insist he is exempt.

Explaining why the vice president has withheld even a tally of his office's secrecy when such offices as the National Security Council routinely report theirs, a spokeswoman said Cheney is "not under any duty" to provide it.

That is only one way the Bush administration, from its opening weeks in 2001, has asserted control over information. By keeping secret so many directives and actions, the administration has precluded the public - and often members of Congress - from knowing about some of the most significant decisions and acts of the White House.

[leveymg]

1. Nobody asks the Boss where he was during that long lunch.

We all know who's in charge, and he doesn't have to explain himself.

"We don't need no stinking badges."

[WiseButAngrySara]

2. Sigh. What else is new! How I hate these subhumans.

:kick: and R!

[UpInArms]

3. impeachment and incarceration cannot happen too soon. eom

[LiberalFighter]

27. I rather see them executed after their trial

[babylonsister]

4. Oh please, someone shoot this guy down! Figuratively of course. nt

[wordpix]

5. Cheney's usual to the American public: Go f*$$! yourself & if you leak,

you'll be prosecuted. Of course, BushCo can leak anything they want with impunity...so they think right now, anyhow.

[lovuian]

6. This is what it means to be King...

I can do anything I like without any accountability...

[dmr]

7. Gotta protect those secetive Spring 2001 Energy Meetings

and all else sinister.

[rodeodance]

19. as article points out--this began well before 9/11 (more)

......In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the administration has based much of its need for confidentiality on the imperative of protecting national security at a time of war. Yet experts say Bush and his closest advisers demonstrated their proclivity for privacy well before Sept. 11:

Starting in the early weeks of his administration with a move to protect the papers of former presidents, Bush has clamped down on the release of government documents. That includes tougher standards for what the public can obtain under the Freedom of Information Act and the creation of a broad new category of "sensitive but unclassified information."

Not only has the administration reported a dramatic increase in the number of documents deemed "top secret," "secret" or "confidential," the president has authorized the reclassification of information that was public for years. An audit by a National Archives office recently found that the CIA acted in a "clearly inappropriate" way regarding about one-third of the documents it reclassified last year.

The White House has resisted efforts by Congress to gain information, starting with a White House energy task force headed by Cheney and continuing with the president's secret authorization of warrantless surveillance of people inside the United States suspected of communicating with terrorists abroad. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., recently threatened to withhold funding for the surveillance program unless the White House starts providing information.........

[HuffleClaw]

8. of course THEY are 'above the law'. blech.

what a joke.

[bleever]

9. From "Of the people, by the people, and for the people" to F&*# you.

Nice, Dick.


ed: exact quote.

[Tigress DEM]

10. So who can we tell that will get this message out?

Chicago Tribune is a good source.

IF we all barrage, CNN will they cover it?

IF we send to the NYT and WaPo will they cover it?

Can we get Helen Thomas to ask about it?

[nashville_brook]

11. how can this not be ILLEGAL?

[ginnyinWI]

12. Read this from The American Prospect

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=11401

A lengthy article on Cheney--if you can stand it and haven't just eaten lunch!
Much of what we've assumed about him is true. And yes,he was/is the major policy guy on Iraq. PNAC all the way, baby. The chimp just goes along because "freedom is on the march". But some of the neocons actually predicted the debacle that's happened--and let it happen anyway to further their quest for power in the Middle East. It's all about keeping the oil away from China--death and destruction be damned.

[BeHereNow]

13. Fucking OUTRAGEOUS.

We have lost the country.
Our government is a sham.
I have no words to express how
completely outraged I am by the
latest mass of chicanery by these thugs.
BHN

[truthisfreedom]

14. the zero-accountability presidency. worst.administration.ever.

[tabasco]

15. Utter corruption.

The scary part is they still have 32% support. :scared:

[0007]

26. Yip!

[anchor of hope]

16. Classified Information

The primary reason that the Bush-Cheney administration wishes to classify so much information is not because of the War on Terror, although that venue provides them with a convenient opportunity to accomplish what they couldn't normally accomplish. Rather, it is to prevent what happened to Bill Clinton, from happening to the Bushes- the "absence of evidence" prevents criticism by future historians and minimizes criticism from political opponents. A recipe to permanently stay in power, synonymous with a dictatorship.

[fooj]

21. Welcome to DU. Agreed.

:hi:

[Zorra]

17. When Dems regain control of the government, they need to focus

on sending these fascists to prison for their crimes and corruption.

[rodeodance]

18. "executive authority is supreme and significantly unchecked." I guess

this does not surprize anyone here.


....But after the Sept. 11 attacks, and amid growing concern about information that terrorists might obtain from the government, then-Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card issued an order in March 2002 demanding that any "Sensitive but Unclassified Information" related to homeland security be released only after careful consideration "on a case-by-case basis."

That has led to a proliferation of documents stamped "Sensitive but Unclassified" or simply "For Office Use Only," according to experts who track government record-keeping.

The Bush administration is "objectively more secretive" than its recent predecessors, Aftergood said.

"Anyone who calls or writes a government agency for information encounters barriers that were just not there a decade ago," he said. "The government is undergoing a mutation in which we are gradually shifting into another kind of government in which executive authority is supreme and significantly unchecked."

[rodeodance]

20. "new category of "sensitive but unclassified information."

....Starting in the early weeks of his administration with a move to protect the papers of former presidents, Bush has clamped down on the release of government documents. That includes tougher standards for what the public can obtain under the Freedom of Information Act and the creation of a broad new category of "sensitive but unclassified information."

Not only has the administration reported a dramatic increase in the number of documents deemed "top secret," "secret" or "confidential," the president has authorized the reclassification of information that was public for years. An audit by a National Archives office recently found that the CIA acted in a "clearly inappropriate" way regarding about one-third of the documents it reclassified last year.

[thecrow]

22. WTF

WTF HAS HE BEEN UP TO???????????????????

[dweller]

23. if they told us

then they'd have to ... well, you know the rest of the ditty.


i have no doubt . . .
dp

[sakabatou]

24. Power-hungry asshat!

[goforit]

25. Is this the new Issue "Tyrranny for Dummies"?