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-- Cheney's extra special VP privilege rules (update: and now Bush's too!)

Cheney's extra special VP privilege rules (update: and now Bush's too!)

Truly perplexing. Back in 2004, Cheney effectively blocked inspectors from the Information Security Oversight Office of the National Archives from an inspection on the White House office, which is required by the ISOO under Executive Order 12958:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/clinton/eo12958.html

Cheney's did so, because he stated he was safeguarding classified security information. Prior to 2004, Cheney failed to provide any information on its classification and declassification activities that are required by that Executive Order. Cheney's excuse? Because according to Cheney the VP office is not an "entity within the executive branch," which one has to stretch the imagination a bit to accept that because the argument goes that the VP also plays a role in the Senate (i.e. Legislative branch) as well. As Henry Waxman notes:

quote:

�To my knowledge, this was the first time in the nearly 30-year history of the Information Security Oversight Office that a request for access to conduct a security inspection was denied by a White House office.� http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=507

With me so far? Okay, so let's go with that silly premise for a brief second - the VP is not the Executive Branch (nor is it really in the Legislative Branch either so it has rules of its very own I guess). So the fight went on until January of 2007 when the ISOO finally asked Gonzales' Office of Legal Council in the DOJ to get involved (which of course you count on the "nonpartisan" Gonzales group to help out tremendously). Cheney then responded by proposing changes to the Executive Order that would abolish the ISOO and take away the ISOO's powers to appeal to the AG.

Keep in mind what this is all about :

quote:

The prosecution of Mr. Libby also revealed that you apparently misused the declassification process for political reasons. In July 2003, you reportedly instructed Mr. Libby to leak to the media portions of an October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein�s purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Your selective declassification of this information was apparently made outside the formal declassification process and done as part of a damage-control effort you undertook to defend the Administration�s rationale for going to war in Iraq. http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=507

Very interesting to have a VP who is neither in the Executive Branch or Legislative Branch. One has to wonder why such new rules were created for our dear Dark Lord.......

This is actually the epitome of the arrogance of big government. Can anyone seriously justify the complete absence of accountability? It's sickening.

quote:

Originally posted by occrider Can anyone seriously justify the complete absence of accountability?

maybe if we knew the whole story. i don't believe it's all out yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Q5echo maybe if we knew the whole story. i don't believe it's all out yet.

Ahh, so there's missing elements involved here that would best explain how our VP has outright claimed that he's not a part of the Executive Branch, and when that's put to the test to the DOJ by those who are questioning such backwards logic (the ISOO), and then Cheney turns around and wants to dissolve the ISOO's powers to appeal to the AG, there HAS to be something missing here that explains both his rational and action, something much much more rational than what we clearly know so far.

How long can you hold your breath?

quote:

Originally posted by occrider This is actually the epitome of the arrogance of big government. Can anyone seriously justify the complete absence of accountability? It's sickening.

Dick Cheney sure is trying.



MrS

I also seem to recall certain instances where Cheney's office invoked "Executive Privilege" in order to stop an investigative trail cold on a few occasions in the past:

quote:

Mr. Cheney�s penchant for secrecy has long been a striking feature of the Bush administration, beginning with his fight to keep confidential the identities of the energy industry officials who advised his task force on national energy policy in 2001. Mr. Cheney took that dispute to the Supreme Court and won. The vice president�s office has stopped providing information for the �Plum Book,� a Congressional publication listing federal political appointees. It has asserted �exclusive control� over Secret Service records of visitors to Mr. Cheney�s residence, preventing their disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/w...eJeACPRXjZ644Vw

But you see, NOW those Executive rules don't apply to him, and so even though he claims to be part of the Executive AND Legislative (i.e. not one exclusively or the other), he can now logically argue how such rules simply don't apply to his office, even though he complied to those rules in 2001 and 2002.

You see, it all makes sense, if you really stop thinking about it.......

Cheney's about the worst VP ever

i suppose he's interpreting which laws apply to him and which don't, which would put him in the judicial branch too. i sincerely hope the congress has the courage to assert it's proper role as an oversight body and investigate this shitbag. it's been a long time overdue.

It all makes sense now:

quote:

From the Los Angeles Times Bush claims oversight exemption too The White House says the president's own order on classified data does not apply to his office or the vice president's. By Josh Meyer Times Staff Writer June 23, 2007 WASHINGTON � The White House said Friday that, like Vice President Dick Cheney's office, President Bush's office is not allowing an independent federal watchdog to oversee its handling of classified national security information.

Ahh, you see? It's not just Cheney that can sidestep being in the Executive branch and have oversight - it's lil' George as well.

Problem is, actually the big problem is, Bush signed that Executive Order and NOWHERE does it state that either he or Cheney are exempt:

quote:

An executive order that Bush issued in March 2003 � amending an existing order � requires all government agencies that are part of the executive branch to submit to oversight. Although it doesn't specifically say so, Bush's order was not meant to apply to the vice president's office or the president's office, a White House spokesman said.

OOOPS!

I can just hear Dick now asking George - "you signed WHAT, DAMMIT?!?!? Didn't you even read the damn thing you signed? Christ Almighty, do I have to sign EVERYTHING FOR YOU?!?!?!"

quote:

The issue flared Thursday when Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) criticized Cheney for refusing to file annual reports with the federal National Archives and Records Administration, for refusing to spell out how his office handles classified documents, and for refusing to submit to an inspection by the archives' Information Security Oversight Office. The archives administration has been pressing the vice president's office to cooperate with oversight for the last several years, contending that by not doing so, Cheney and his staff have created a potential national security risk. Bush amended the oversight directive in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to help ensure that national secrets would not be mishandled, made public or improperly declassified. The order aimed to create a uniform system for classifying, declassifying and otherwise safeguarding national security information. It gave the archives' oversight unit responsibility for evaluating the effectiveness of each agency's classification programs. It applied to the executive branch of government, mostly agencies led by Bush administration appointees � not to legislative offices such as Congress or to judicial offices such as the courts. "Our democratic principles require that the American people be informed of the activities of their government," the executive order said. But from the start, Bush considered his office and Cheney's exempt from the reporting requirements, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in an interview Friday. Cheney's office filed the reports in 2001 and 2002 but stopped in 2003. As a result, the National Archives has been unable to review how much information the president's and vice president's offices are classifying and declassifying. And the security oversight office cannot inspect the president and vice president's executive offices to determine whether safeguards are in place to protect the classified information they handle and to properly declassify information when required.

No need. As their favorite motto goes, "Just trust us."

Not to worry. They are here to protect you, so laws either don't apply or are reinterpreted to fit the present policy excuse.

quote:

Those two offices have access to the most highly classified information, including intelligence on terrorists and unfriendly foreign countries. Waxman and J. William Leonard, director of the Information Security Oversight Office, have argued that the order clearly applies to all executive branch agencies, including the offices of the vice president and the president. The White House disagrees, Fratto said. "We don't dispute that the ISOO has a different opinion.

EXACTLY! It's all about opinion. You see, the law is nothing but a matter of interpretation, and if this Administration interprets the laws a wee bit differently than ever before (and beyond all rhyme or reason), you just have to understand it's all about interpretation. And they are merely interpreting the law the best way to protect us.

Because you see, having no oversight on our Executive Branch's activities with classified information, even though our Executive Branch signed a law specifically ordering oversight, is by far and away the best interpretation of the law to protect us little children.

It's really quite simple when you stop thinking about it.

quote:

"But let's be very clear: This executive order was issued by the president, and he knows what his intentions were," Fratto said. "He is in compliance with his executive order."

Exactly! So hush down all you America-haters!

quote:

Fratto conceded that the lengthy directive, technically an amendment to an existing executive order, did not specifically exempt the president's or vice president's offices. Instead, it refers to "agencies" as being subject to the requirements, which Fratto said did not include the two executive offices. "It does take a little bit of inference," Fratto said.

And a very, very creative imagination......

I don't care if the term "agency" is described in the Executive Order specifically as:

quote:

"Agency" means any "Executive agency," as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105; any "Military department" as defined in 5 U.S.C. 102; and any other entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information. http://www.fas.org/sgp/bush/eoamend.html

You just have to understand that neither Cheney nor Bush's office falls under the term "entity". They are not "entities". It's just that simple. Yup. All you America-haters got that?

quote:

Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' government secrecy project, disputed the White House explanation of the executive order. He noted that the order defines "agency" as any executive agency, military department and "any other entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information" � which, he said, includes Bush's and Cheney's offices.

Steve, steve, steve, when did you first join Al Qaeda?

quote:

Cheney's office drew criticism Thursday for claiming that it was exempt from the reporting requirements because the vice president's office is not fully within the executive branch. It cited his legislative role as president of the Senate when needed to break a tie. At a Friday news conference, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said constitutional scholars could debate that assertion. But, she said, Cheney's office is exempt from the requirements because the president intended him to be. Cheney's office did not comment Friday. Several security experts said they were not aware that the president had exempted his own office from the oversight requirements. But they said it fit what they saw as a pattern in the administration of avoiding accountability, even on matters of national security. "If the president and the vice president don't take their own rules seriously, who else should?" said Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, a nongovernmental research institute at George Washington University in Washington that lobbies for open government. "If they get a blank check, it's a recipe for disaster. I can't think of a quicker way to break down the credibility of the entire security-classification system." Blanton noted that the White House had acknowledged that a substantial number of in-house e-mails had disappeared in recent years, at a time when investigators wanted to review them for possible evidence of inappropriate leaks of classified information. "If there are all these great safeguards in place, then where are the e-mails?" Blanton asked. Waxman, chairman of the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wrote an eight-page letter to Cheney on Thursday in which he complained that the vice president had refused to adhere to the executive order. Waxman, citing the criminal investigation of Cheney's office related to the leak of a CIA agent's identity, suggested that the vice president's office was a national security risk. He also accused Cheney or his staff of trying to have the archives' watchdog unit abolished after its director, Leonard, pressed for more oversight and for a legal opinion from the Justice Department as to whether the executive order applied to the vice president's office. Perino denied that attempts were made to abolish the unit. A spokeswoman for the archives, Susan Cooper, would not comment Friday on whether the archives' watchdog unit ever tried to inspect the president's executive office or obtain annual classification reports. Fratto said that he was not aware of such an effort but that it would be rebuffed. "I'm not going to get into hypotheticals, but the executive order does not grant them that authority," Fratto said. He noted that the oversight requirements did, however, apply to the National Security Council, the president's principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and cabinet officials. Fratto said that the White House and Cheney's office had a legal obligation to adhere to the executive order's guidelines regarding the proper handling of classified documents, even if they didn't have to submit to oversight by an outside agency. -- [email protected] http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...=la-home-center

And why does the ISOO hate America too while we're at it?

Just makes me sick.......

quote:

Originally posted by occrider This is actually the epitome of the arrogance of big government. Can anyone seriously justify the complete absence of accountability? It's sickening.

He operates in the shadows under the 'guise' of national security and it's definitely destroying our country! But hey, have you ever thought that maybe they aren't really 'working' for our country, per se? The way that they're continually working to erode our national sovereignty makes me think twice about who they really pledge their allegiance to. I think they're really only accountable to big (trans-national) business and the corporate elite, the top one percenter's.

Cheney Defiant on Classified Material (Washington Post)

Haha, good old Cheney. The guy definitely deserves a full investigation into his years as VP.

I recently finished reading a book that deals with a lot of Cheney's policies and "mentality" into some of the things he's done over his years as VP: One Percent Doctrine by Ron Suskind.

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