Can someone confirm or debunk, re: Libby / Cheney?

[johnaries]

The way I understand it:

Cheney told Libby to leak some of the NIE info, but did not tell him to leak Plame's status.

The VP cannot de-classify security information.

The Pres can de-classify, but he has to go through procedures that Bush did not do.

Can someone confirm or debunk this?

Thanks!

[BuyingThyme]

1. kcik

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Here's something from the WSJ on this very topic which I predict we'll

be discussing a lot.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113962394427971509-4nyoE0q5oTejTPe9cRHBg_om6mM_20070211.html?mod=blogs


"The president can declassify anything," William Banks, a Syracuse University law professor and expert on national-security law, said. While the president would have to amend his own executive order governing secrets in order to declassify something on the fly, that can be accomplished very informally, even orally and in secret. "He could do it on a cocktail napkin," Mr. Banks said.

The vice president's authority to declassify is less clear. Some legal scholars believe that Mr. Cheney would share in the president's authority, as an elected official. Alternatively, the president could delegate his declassification authority to the vice president.

"The classification system is rooted for the most part not in statute but in executive order. ...In the case of the NIE, the White House was free to declassify it at a moment's notice," said Steven Aftergood, director of the project on government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, which favors increased public access to government information."


Hmmm. . . it will turn out to be even more interesting if it turns out that Bush declassified it first, before Cheney.




(side note - how do you get quotes from articles to be in nice grey boxes? I can't figure it out.Help!)

[BuyingThyme]

3. Yes, this is going to keep falling at Bush's feet.

And they will have a difficult time explaining why they had to
keep lying if they believed in their own innocence.

Nice grey boxes are achieved like this:

[div class="excerpt"]Text[/div]

Replace "Text" with the text.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. Thanks, Buying Thyme! I can't wait to try it. nt

[johnaries]

5. Thanks! That's what I was looking for. We need to be careful

about the facts, and I've seen a lot of posts saying that Libby claimed his "superiors" authorized him to out Plame.

In fact, according to this article, that is NOT what he said (although he didn't say they didn't). If it turns out Bushit authorized it, it could be argued that it was legal for him to do so:

"The president can declassify anything," William Banks, a Syracuse University law professor and expert on national-security law, said. While the president would have to amend his own executive order governing secrets in order to declassify something on the fly, that can be accomplished very informally, even orally and in secret. "He could do it on a cocktail napkin," Mr. Banks said

THIS is what we need to be aware of:

The implication from the disclosure that Mr. Libby had authority to discuss sensitive intelligence matters with the press "is that the White House -- the vice president -- has been using his declassification authority as a way to advance the administration's political agenda," said Mr. Aftergood. "In other words, information that supports the administration's position on Iraq or whatever is selectively declassified and other information is not. That's not a criminal offense, but it's kind of sleazy."

edit: Thanks, BuyingThyme, I always wanted to know how to box quotations, too! Works great!

[H2O Man]

6. If President Bush

had declassified Valerie Plame's identity, he would have informed Mr. Fitzgerald of that fact when he met with him. He did not.

Cheney and/or Andrew Card would be the two other individuals who qualify as Libby's "superiors." Neither have the authority to declassify material on their own. It is likely that Cheney could claim Bush delegated that authority to him; it seems like he would have made that claim in his meeting with Mr. Fitzgerald.

Cheney is known through grand jury testimony to have been the first person to tell Libby about Plame's identity. Further, he is known to have participated in a discussion with Libby about how to deal with reporters in regard to the Wilson issue. But you are right in that the information provided by the court or Mr. Fitzgerald has not said Cheney told Libby to out Plame.

[EFerrari]

7. I just remembered that Cheney either claimed or was given

the power to classify material in 2001. I'll go look for a link -- but I distinctly remember reading it in the paper.

But, regardless if Cheney has this power, he still broke the law if (when) he outed a NOC.

[EFerrari]

10. Okay. What I found was this page from the wonderful and now defunct

warblogging.com which discusses the NYTs article I remember from 2001.

This was around the time that Henry Waxman was struggling to get Cheney to release docs relating to the Engergy policy meetings and when Cheney managed to get a ruling against the GAO re those rulings.

Not the one that I remember, but an imporant summary from "George Paine".


http://www.warblogging.com/archives/000430.php



Edit to add: A good article from The Nation, 2/2002: "What are They Hiding?

http://www.warblogging.com/archives/000430.php

[johnaries]

8. It seems very likely, though, doesn't it.

Which is what I think Fitz is going for. Trying to prove the likelihood so he can further his investigation higher. There are different rules that apply to outing a covert agent than simply de-classifying info.

It ain't over, yet - but it's definitely getting better!

[Just Me]

9. I'll confirm Cheney et al conspired to defraud the nation,....

,...into an illegal war and they went after Joe to shut down the CIA WMD-prolif op of which his wife was a member.

Questions?