by emptywheel
I'm posting from less than ideal WiFi, so this will be short and sloppy (and I may not be posting tomorrow at all). But I did want to share my first impression when I read Waxman's latest:
QUOTE
Executive Order 12958 gives an arm of the National Archives, the Information Security
Oversight Offrce, govemment-wide authority to conduct on-site inspections of all executive
branch offices and agencies to ensure that security programs are effective. Yet according to the security officers, this Archives office was also denied access to the West Wing.
The security officers said that the Information Security Oversight Office informed the White House Security Office in 2005 that it would be conducting an inspection of offices within the White House. The security officers reported that after an initial meeting, a senior White House official intervened and instructed the White House Security Office to block any inspection of the West Wing.
I couldn't help but think of this article Looseheadprop once linked to, describing another time Dick Cheney told ISOO to "Cheney" off.Oversight Offrce, govemment-wide authority to conduct on-site inspections of all executive
branch offices and agencies to ensure that security programs are effective. Yet according to the security officers, this Archives office was also denied access to the West Wing.
The security officers said that the Information Security Oversight Office informed the White House Security Office in 2005 that it would be conducting an inspection of offices within the White House. The security officers reported that after an initial meeting, a senior White House official intervened and instructed the White House Security Office to block any inspection of the West Wing.
QUOTE
In its 2005 report to the president released last month, the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), a branch of the National Archives, provides a quantitative overview of hundreds of thousands of pages of classified and declassified documents. But the vice president’s input consists of a single footnote explaining that his office failed to meet its reporting requirements for the third year in a row.
[snip]
In a May 30 letter to J. William Leonard, director of the ISOO, the Project on Government Secrecy contended that Cheney’s rationale was illogical, because additional legislative functions should have no bearing on the vice president’s executive-branch obligations. Troubled by the continued non-compliance, the organization warned that if the ISOO did not act to enforce the vice president’s responsibilities under the executive order, "every agency will feel free to re-interpret the order in idiosyncratic and self-serving ways."
[snip]
In 2003 – around the time Cheney’s office stopped reporting to the ISOO – the Bush administration affirmed and expanded the vice president’s classification powers through a revision of Executive Order 12958, the same order mandating the yearly ISOO assessment. The amended order explicitly granted the vice president unprecedented authority to classify information "in the performance of executive duties," including the ability to label information "secret" and "top secret" on par with the heads of federal agencies and the president himself.
[snip]
In a May 30 letter to J. William Leonard, director of the ISOO, the Project on Government Secrecy contended that Cheney’s rationale was illogical, because additional legislative functions should have no bearing on the vice president’s executive-branch obligations. Troubled by the continued non-compliance, the organization warned that if the ISOO did not act to enforce the vice president’s responsibilities under the executive order, "every agency will feel free to re-interpret the order in idiosyncratic and self-serving ways."
[snip]
In 2003 – around the time Cheney’s office stopped reporting to the ISOO – the Bush administration affirmed and expanded the vice president’s classification powers through a revision of Executive Order 12958, the same order mandating the yearly ISOO assessment. The amended order explicitly granted the vice president unprecedented authority to classify information "in the performance of executive duties," including the ability to label information "secret" and "top secret" on par with the heads of federal agencies and the president himself.
I'll return to Waxman's letter when the WiFi gods start smiling on me again. In the meantime, picture Dick Cheney with his goddamned quail gun, guarding the entrance of the West Wing from those evil archivists. Since Cheney is not above shooting old men, I'm sure he wouldn't stop at archivists.