ADDINGTON AND THE QUESTION OF INTENT

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24092

ADDINGTON AND THE QUESTION OF INTENT
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2007-06-28 17:49. Activism

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

Vice Presidential Chief of Staff David Addington defended Dick Cheney's
refusal to submit to oversight by the Information Security Oversight
Office in a June 26 letter to Sen. John Kerry.

"The executive order on classified national security information --
Executive Order 12958 as amended in 2003 -- makes it clear that the
Vice President is treated like the President and distinguishes the two
of them from 'agencies'," he wrote.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2007/06/ovp062607.pdf

Mr. Addington's claim is demonstrably false.

By presidential order dated October 13, 1995, the President delegated
original classification authority to the Vice President under Executive
Order 12958, along with other officials in the executive office of the
President and various agency heads.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/clinton/oca.html

When the executive order was amended in 2003, that delegation of
classification authority to the Vice President was not rescinded or
modified. It remains in effect. Consequently, the Vice President's
authority is comparable to that of the Secretary of Defense or the
Secretary of State.

Furthermore, as ISOO director J. William Leonard explained in his
January 9, 2007 letter to the Attorney General, a "plain text reading"
of the order indicates that the Office of the Vice President is subject
to the order's requirements. He noted that the OVP is granted one
particular exemption, concerning the order's mandatory declassification
review provisions.

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