Dick Cheney authorized to disclose classified information?

[Caro]

Did anyone else catch this? Dick Cheney used the occasion of his softball interview with the Fox News Channel about shooting his hunting partner to announce to us that he is authorized to disclosed classified information. From the Associated Press, posted at SFGate:

Text of Dick Cheney's Interview on Fox

… Q: On another subject, court filings have indicated that Scooter Libby has suggested that his superiors — unidentified — authorized the release of some classified information. What do you know about that?

A: It's nothing I can talk about, Brit. This is an issue that's been under investigation for a couple of years. I've cooperated fully, including being interviewed, as well, by a special prosecutor. All of it is now going to trial. Scooter is entitled to the presumption of innocence. He's a great guy. I've worked with him for a long time, have enormous regard for him. I may well be called as a witness at some point in the case and it's, therefore, inappropriate for me to comment on any facet of the case.

Q: Let me ask you another question. Is it your view that a Vice President has the authority to declassify information?

A: There is an executive order to that effect.

Q: There is.

A: Yes.

Q: Have you done it?

A: Well, I've certainly advocated declassification and participated in declassification decisions. The executive order ...

Q: You ever done it unilaterally?

A: 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.

Q: There have been two leaks, one that pertained to possible facilities in Europe; and another that pertained to this NSA matter. There are officials who have had various characterizations of the degree of damage done by those. How would you characterize the damage done by those two reports?

A: There clearly has been damage done.

Q: Which has been the more harmful, in your view?

A: I don't want to get into just sort of ranking them, then you get into why is one more damaging than the other. One of the problems we have as a government is our inability to keep secrets. And it costs us, in terms of our relationship with other governments, in terms of the willingness of other intelligence services to work with us, in terms of revealing sources and methods. And all of those elements enter into some of these leaks.

Q: Mr. Vice President, thank you very much for doing this.

A: Thank you, Brit.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[NewJeffCT]

1. This made my local paper, too

The Hartford Courant

[liberal N proud]

2. Spin for the Scooter tales

When it is proved that Cheney was the source he will just say, Of course I was and there is nothing you can do about it. OR in Duck Cheney's words Go fuck yourself.

[acmejack]

3. Why yes he is.

Develops that * signed a convenient Executive Order in March 2003 allowing the VEEP to do just that. These pricks are more competent at covering their tracks than I would have given them credit for. Of course, if they weren't they would have been in the can long ago.

[LiberalFighter]

4. EO 13292 --Further Amendment to Executive Order 12958

Further Amendment to Executive Order 12958 Dated Mar 25 2003 Wikipedia Source

Sec. 3.5. Mandatory Declassification Review. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, all information classified under this order or predecessor orders shall be subject to a review for declassification by the originating agency if:

(1) the request for a review describes the document or material containing the information with sufficient specificity to enable the agency to locate it with a reasonable amount of effort;

(2) the information is not exempted from search and review under sections 105C, 105D, or 701 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 403-5c, 403-5e, and 431); and

(3) the information has not been reviewed for declassification within the past 2 years. If the agency has reviewed the information within the past 2 years, or the information is the subject of pending litigation, the agency shall inform the requester of this fact and of the requesters appeal rights.

(b) Information originated by:

(1) the incumbent President or, in the performance of executive duties, the incumbent Vice President;

(2) the incumbent Presidents White House Staff or, in the performance of executive duties, the incumbent Vice Presidents Staff;

(3) committees, commissions, or boards appointed by the incumbent President; or

(4) other entities within the Executive Office of the President that solely advise and assist the incumbent President is exempted from the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section. However, the Archivist shall have the authority to review, downgrade, and declassify papers or records of former Presidents under the control of the Archivist pursuant to sections 2107, 2111, 2111 note, or 2203 of title 44, United States Code. Review procedures developed by the Archivist shall provide for consultation with agencies having primary subject matter interest and shall be consistent with the provisions of applicable laws or lawful agreements that pertain to the respective Presidential papers or records. Agencies with primary subject matter interest shall be notified promptly of the Archivists decision. Any final decision by the Archivist may be appealed by the requester or an agency to the Panel. The information shall remain classified pending a prompt decision on the appeal.

(c) Agencies conducting a mandatory review for declassification shall declassify information that no longer meets the standards for classification under this order. They shall release this information unless withholding is otherwise authorized and warranted under applicable law.

(d) In accordance with directives issued pursuant to this order, agency heads shall develop procedures to process requests for the mandatory review of classified information. These procedures shall apply to information classified under this or predecessor orders. They also shall provide a means for administratively appealing a denial of a mandatory review request, and for notifying the requester of the right to appeal a final agency decision to the Panel.

(e) After consultation with affected agencies, the Secretary of Defense shall develop special procedures for the review of cryptologic information; the Director of Central Intelligence shall develop special procedures for the review of information pertaining to intelligence activities (including special activities), or intelligence sources or methods; and the Archivist shall develop special procedures for the review of information accessioned into the National Archives.

Executive Order 12958 as signed by William J Clinton on April 17, 1995

Sec. 3.6. Mandatory Declassification Review. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), below, all information classified under this order or predecessor orders shall be subject to a review for declassification by the originating agency if:

(1) the request for a review describes the document or material containing the information with sufficient specificity to enable the agency to locate it with a reasonable amount of effort;

(2) the information is not exempted from search and review under the Central Intelligence Agency Information Act; and

(3) the information has not been reviewed for declassification within the past 2 years. If the agency has reviewed the information within the past 2 years, or the information is the subject of pending litigation, the agency shall inform the requester of this fact and of the requester's appeal rights.

(b) Information originated by:

(1) the incumbent President;

(2) the incumbent President's White House Staff;

(3) committees, commissions, or boards appointed by the incumbent President; or

(4) other entities within the Executive Office of the President that solely advise and assist the incumbent President is exempted from the provisions of paragraph (a), above. However, the Archivist shall have the authority to review, downgrade, and declassify information of former Presidents under the control of the Archivist pursuant to sections 2107, 2111, 2111 note, or 2203 of title 44, United States Code. Review procedures developed by the Archivist shall provide for consultation with agencies having primary subject matter interest and shall be consistent with the provisions of applicable laws or lawful agreements that pertain to the respective Presidential papers or records. Agencies with primary subject matter interest shall be notified promptly of the Archivist's decision. Any final decision by the Archivist may be appealed by the requester or an agency to the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel. The information shall remain classified pending a prompt decision on the appeal.

(c) Agencies conducting a mandatory review for declassification shall declassify information that no longer meets the standards for classification under this order. They shall release this information unless withholding is otherwise authorized and warranted under applicable law.

(d) In accordance with directives issued pursuant to this order, agency heads shall develop procedures to process requests for the mandatory review of classified information. These procedures shall apply to information classified under this or predecessor orders. They also shall provide a means for administratively appealing a denial of a mandatory review request, and for notifying the requester of the right to appeal a final agency decision to the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel.

(e) After consultation with affected agencies, the Secretary of Defense shall develop special procedures for the review of cryptologic information, the Director of Central Intelligence shall develop special procedures for the review of information pertaining to intelligence activities (including special activities), or intelligence sources or methods, and the Archivist shall develop special procedures for the review of information accessioned into the National Archives.

[Caro]

6. You don't think...

... that could be a POST-DATED executive order, do you? Otherwise, why haven't we heard about it before? Maybe they could have stopped Libby from being indicted.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[EVDebs]

13. Please see this post by leveymg

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x441331

Cheney does not have the 'magic powers' he and Lord Sauron continually claim.

BTW, the OIG of DOD is another hand-picked hack.

More on Mr Gimble and his NSA pre-9/11 'policy shift' away from Al Qaeda money laundering (which could have ID'd more of the hijackers) at Bush's direction:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2461635&mesg_id=2461635

A coverup of massive proportions requires accomplices at the highest levels.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. This sounds like he's taking a page out of the CEO "Where is my cheese?"

handbook. He is taking his space.

There was a management exercise I took once when I was very young. I flunked miserably, but it was a wonderful eye-awakening experience. We were assigned to groups of four and we would take turns sending one person from each group up to a table on a stage. The table had one of those three level chess boards and on each level was a number of small items. We each had 30 seconds to remember what was on the board and return back to our groups and report. The group that compiled the most items at the end of the exercise, won.

In my group, there was one person with Cheney type qualities. He wanted right away to go up to the stage with a pad and pencil and start writing down what was on the board. The group over-ruled him. With my Catholic upbringing, I was the strongest voice saying that it was cheating because we weren't given permission to do it.

Anyway, the short of it, it was what the trainers were looking for. Someone who would not set up boundaries where none existed. They didn't tell us we couldn't, so they were looking for someone who wouldn't be afraid to take a risk and venture into the unknown.

And as I've grown up, I've learned something else. It's one thing to learn how to break away from social mores that you learned as a child - social mores that chain you in a business world which is often ruthless and without rules or laws - but it's another to know that those rules or laws DO exist, and still ignore them, anyway. Cheney has made that leap. He has learned that it's easier to operate without rules, so he will continue doing what he's doing, until someone successfully tells him why he shouldn't.

[Caro]

7. They make them up...

... as they go along.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Ok, then why do we bother to have a CIA director and all his underlings?

First Cheney hand-picked the intelligence to use against Iraq and now he can declassify NIE without review? Since Cheney appears to run the now, god-awful CIA, why pay others?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

9. John Dean on Countdown last night said that even an executive order

couldn't unilaterly make it ok for a President or Vice President to declassify information.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. I Heard From A Legal Expert Who Said The Same

I called him last night after i heard about those snippets of the interview. This guy called me back 20 minutes later and said that the only way the law or the order can be interpreted the way Cheney stated it is if you really, really, needed to. IOW, if you're doing it to cover your own behind, then the interpretation is out there. But, it's clearly NOT what the order or the law says.
The Professor

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. Thank you Professor for the verification! The next question is, will

this ever see the light of day? The timing of Cheney shooting his "good friend" Harry almost seems opportune..........

[Stephanie]

11. Let's see the executive order.

Let's see it, and let's see the date, and then let's find out if it's legal. Then let's see if you followed procedure in authorizing the leak of a CIA agent's name, or if you just came up with this convenient excuse as yet another smokescreen.

*edit* duh, now I read the thread I see the order posted above, but I hope someone legal will decipher it for us.