Re: OT: Really?

On Jun 21, 2:56 pm, timepixdc <timepi...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the
National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the
presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for
safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice
President asserts that his office is not an ³entity within the executive
branch.²

- House Committee on Oversight & Reform

Via e-mail:

Washington, D.C. - House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel
issued the following statement regarding his amendment to cut funding
for the Office of the Vice President from the bill that funds the
executive branch. The legislation - the Financial Services and General
Government Appropriations bill -- will be considered on the floor of
the House of Representatives next week.

"The Vice President has a choice to make. If he believes his legal
case, his office has no business being funded as part of the executive
branch. However, if he demands executive branch funding he cannot
ignore executive branch rules. At the very least, the Vice President
should be consistent. This amendment will ensure that the Vice
President's funding is consistent with his legal arguments. I have
worked closely with my colleagues on this amendment and will continue
to pursue this measure in the coming days."

Seems perfectly fair to me.

But not just because Cheney conitnues to make that ridiculous claim.
No, today it's in the news because Bush is making a claim equally
stupid. Possibly even more stupid:

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.

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.

Does anyone else find it extraordinarily dangerous that both the
President and the Vice President say they don't have to comply with
their own orders regarding the tracking of classification and
declassification of information that passes through their hands?

Does anyone else find it extraordinarily suspicious that this was
exactly the kind of activity they claimed rendered the whole Plame
outing and National Intelligence Estimate leaking a non-issue? It was
all "legal" because it had all been declassified -- instantly and on
the spot by unilateral decisions of the President and Vice President.
Or so they claimed. Of course, there are no records of any particular
procedure being followed in those cases. And now there never will be.
Because while the order itself says

These directives shall be binding upon the agencies.

and that

"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.

Bush now says it really meant everybody except him and Uncle Dick.

Aren't we basically in a situation in which the safest conduit for
funneling classified information to unauthorized recipients is now the
Executive Office of the President and Office of the Vice President?
Seems backwards, really. You can't monitor our classification and
declassification activities, and even if you do, whatever we do is
insta-legal.

What would a true Manchurian candidate, running an espionage ring from
out of the White House or Old Executive Office Building, create for
himself in order to provide cover for his operation? And how would it
differ in appearance from this?


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Vice President Refuses to Report Classification Activity
    ... For the third year in a row the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney ... Security Oversight Office (ISOO) noted in its new 2005 Annual Report ... security classification program," according to ISOO Directive 1 (at ...
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  • Vice President Refuses to Report Classification Activity
    ... Vice President Refuses to Report Classification Activity ... For the third year in a row the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney ... Security Oversight Office (ISOO) noted in its new 2005 Annual Report ...
    (rec.sport.tennis)
  • Re: OT: Quaint Relics
    ... Vice President Dick Cheney has regularly claimed that he is above the law, but until recently he has not offered any explanation of why. ... These orders were issued to implement the law adopted by Congress in 1995 to clarify the classification and protection of national security information. ...
    (rec.outdoors.rv-travel)
  • Re: OT - Cheney Says He Has Power to Declassify Info
    ... Vice President has the authority to raise and lower the ... level of classification of information. ...
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  • Republican asks Will Cheney get a Katrina trailer?
    ... Republican asks 'Will Cheney get a Katrina trailer? ... funding for the executive branch office of Vice President Dick Cheney ... But he also offered a warning to the Democrats who were moving to cut ...
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