Unitary Executive or Co-President? Constitutional?

Feb 17 22:56 UTC 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that an executive
order gives him the authority to declassify secret documents, but he would
not say whether he authorized an indicted former aide to release classified
information.

Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, told a grand jury he
was "authorized by his superiors" to disclose classified information from an
intelligence estimate on Iraq to reporters, the special prosecutor
investigating the 2003 leak of a CIA agent's identity told Libby's attorneys.
The prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, did not identify who those "superiors"
are.

In an interview Wednesday with Fox News, Cheney said the case was "nothing
I can talk about." But he said he had the authority to declassify material
under an executive order that "focuses first and foremost on the president,
but also includes the vice president."

He would not disclose whether he had exercised that authority, however.

Libby was indicted in October on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice
and making false statements to investigators probing the July 2003 exposure
of CIA agent Valerie Plame. Plame's husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph
Wilson, had just emerged as a critic of the pre-war intelligence underpinning
the invasion of Iraq when her identity was disclosed.

According to Fitzgerald, Libby met on July 8, 2003, with New York Times
reporter Judith Miller to give her information regarding the U.S. National
Intelligence Estimate on Iraq. The document included much of the information
used to justify the invasion of Iraq earlier that year.

But a legal source involved in the case tells CNN that Libby has never
suggested and did not testify that anyone in the administration -- including
Cheney -- authorized outing Plame.

Cheney declined to discuss the investigation but said he had "cooperated
fully" with the special prosecutor. And he suggested he may have to testify
in Libby's trial, now tentatively set for January 2007.

"Scooter is entitled to the presumption of innocence," the vice president
said. "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."

Cheney's remarks came during an interview in which he accepted responsibility
for the weekend shooting of a companion during a south Texas quail hunt. (Full
story)

The wounded man, 78-year-old Harry Whittington, remained in intensive care
in a Corpus Christi hospital on Wednesday.

The incident's belated disclosure left the White House fending off questions
for three days and fueled renewed criticism of the vice president, with
Democrats calling it symbolic of an administration obsessed with secrecy.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/16/cheney.classified/

response 2 of 32:

Feb 18 05:33 UTC 2006

He's not prohibited.  He just says "I'd rather not talk about that right now"
and the interviewing reporter says "Oh, okay.  Sorry to impose."

response 4 of 32:

Feb 20 18:54 UTC 2006

re #3
Its not just being delegated.  Its having authority over entire agencies
without any oversight by the President.  Don't you see the problem with our
elected President not being in power of executive decisions?

response 6 of 32:

Feb 21 03:29 UTC 2006

re #5
You want me to explain how declassification of say....a NOC list of former
field agents for the CIA might be a problem?  Don't act so naive.

response 8 of 32:

Feb 21 17:29 UTC 2006

Executive Order 13292, issued by President Bush on March 25, 2003..
Throughout Executive Order 13292, there are changes to the original Clinton
order which, in effect, give the vice president the power of the president
in dealing with classified material. In the original Clinton executive order,
for example, there appeared the following passage: 

Classification Authority. 
(a) The authority to classify information originally may be exercised only
    by:
  (1) the President;
  (2) agency heads and officials designated by the President in the Federal
      Register...

In the Bush order, that section was changed to this (emphasis added):

Classification Authority. 
(a) The authority to classify information originally may be exercised only
    by:
  (1) the President and, in the performance of executive duties, the Vice
      President;
  (2) agency heads and officials designated by the President in the Federal
      Register...

In another part of the original Clinton order, there was a segment dealing
with who was authorized to delegate the authority to classify material. In
the Clinton order, the passage read: 

(2) "Top Secret" original classification authority may be delegated only by
    the President or by an agency head or official designated...
(3) "Secret" or "Confidential" original classification authority may be
    delegated only by the President; an agency head or official designated...

In the Bush order, that segment was changed to read (emphasis added): 

(2) "Top Secret" original classification authority may be delegated only by
  the President; in the performance of executive duties, the Vice President;
  or an agency head or official designated...
(3) "Secret" or "Confidential" original classification authority may be
 delegated only by the President; in the performance of executive duties, the
 Vice President; or an agency head or official designated...

Both executive orders contained extension sections defining the terms used
in the order. One of those terms was "original classification authority," that
is, who in the government has the power to classify documents. In the Clinton
order, the definition read: 

"Original classification authority" means an individual authorized in writing,
either by the President, or by agency heads or other officials designated by
the President...

In the Bush executive order, the definition was changed to read (emphasis
added): 

"Original classification authority" means an individual authorized in writing,
either by the President, the Vice President in the performance of executive
duties, or by agency heads or other officials designated by the President...

In the last several years, there has been much talk about the powerful role
Dick Cheney plays in the Bush White House. Some of that talk has been based
on anecdotal evidence, and some on entirely fanciful speculation. 

**Executive Order 13292 is real evidence of real power in the vice president's
office. Since the beginning of the administration, Dick Cheney has favored
measures allowing the executive branch to keep more things secret. And in
March of 2003, the president gave him the authority to do it.**

response 10 of 32:

Feb 21 18:49 UTC 2006

re #9
 nothing you cited violates the Constitution or makes Cheney the "co-
 president"
(2) "Top Secret" original classification authority may be delegated only by
   the President; in the performance of executive duties, the Vice President;
   or an agency head or official designated...
Its right there in plain sight.  Are you blind?

Let me give a lil historical narrative on why this was so important at the
time it was re-written by GW.  He wanted to give Cheney the run of the mill
to cherry pick Iraqi intelligence for Powell to make his case to the UN. 
You haven't forgotten Powell's show&tell magic show, have you?  Remember, the
one where they took ice cream truck photos and said they were for uranium
enrichment?

You may not think "need to know" is important in classification but when we're
talking about "speciali interests" (Halliburton, anybody?) then I think it
is severely treasonous for our Commander in Chief to just leave his file
cabinet unlocked with Cheney sitting in the room all by himself.

Let's go back to simple Civics, m'kay?
Executive authority is given to the President by election(electoral college.)
That makes him the sole head of state.  The role of this executive is:
-enforce the law
-conduct foreign relations
-command the armed forces
-appoint state officials, judges, diplomats
-administer gov't departments
-issue executive orders

Now, you want to know why can't Cheney ALSO perform executive function?
Well, then we would have a semi-presidential system(like France).  In essence,
that would mean Cheney would have to be Prime Minister.  Are you seeing the
problem yet?

response 12 of 32:

Feb 21 21:13 UTC 2006

Your last paragraph is closest to the truth.  ANd the problem therein lies.
The President loses full responsibility for serious actions when
classification of TOP SECRET items is not reviewed nor authorized by Commander
in Chief.  Example: War in Iraq and evidence leading up to

response 14 of 32:

Feb 21 22:29 UTC 2006

re #13
Would you lay ultimate blame on the Valerie Plame outing with GW Bush, then?

response 16 of 32:

Feb 21 23:37 UTC 2006

IMPEACH!!

response 18 of 32:

Feb 22 04:59 UTC 2006

If Cheney were to declassify some piece of information solely for the
sake of smearing a political opponent, would that be considered "in the
performance of executive duties" as outlined in the above exec order?

response 20 of 32:

Feb 22 09:04 UTC 2006

re #19
The bigger problem is that the current authority (namely the updated EO12958)
which gives the VP authority to DE-classify is also being countered by the
DoD and intelligence agencies in a major "rollback" Deniability-op.
It was insinuated by the proposed "Public Interest and Historical Review Act
of 1999:  This Act would create a board of experts to set up a process for
the systematic review and collection of historically important documents from
CIA, DOD, DIA, NSA, State, and other national security agencies. It comes at
the problem from the opposite direction, from the historical point of view."
see
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/adcom/mtgnts/11696.htm
and
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB179/

response 22 of 32:

Feb 24 16:22 UTC 2006

I think you give GW too much credit for being in control.

response 24 of 32:

Feb 24 17:49 UTC 2006

Campaigned for U.S. Congress in 1978 in a large West Texas district that
included his hometown of Midland. He defeated two opponents in the Republican
primary, but lost in the general election to Democrat Kent Hance. After the
election he went back to the energy business and built his oil company.