White House Backs Cheney: Defends Veep On Secrets Exemption

The question now becomes: who are the lemmings?

The supporters who constantly back the administration when its members make declarations that would have sparked d sputtering outrage from conservatives and/or Republicans even 8 years ago, — or the White House that seemingly follows the lead of Vice President Dick Cheney…even as Cheny leads it down a political and institutional cliff?

The latest installment in The Vice President’s Office Is Not An Entity Or Agency (according to the Vice President’s Office) has come on a Friday-news-dump afternoon…with the White House solidly backing an assertion that suggests than ever that Cheney sees himself as a modern day Lone Ranger — a power to himself, above other government institutions, above oversight:

The White House on Friday defended Vice President Dick Cheney’s decision not to cooperate with a government office charged with safeguarding national security information – and denied that Cheney ever suggested the agency be shut down.

Despite objections from the National Archives, Cheney’s office has exempted itself from a presidential executive order that seeks to protect national security information generated by the government.

Under the order, executive branch offices are required to give the Information Security Oversight Office at the archives data on how much material they classify and declassify. Cheney’s office provided the information in 2001 and 2002, then stopped.

There is an irony here for anyone who has studied history. For years the cliched comment has been that most Vice Presidents are seemingly irrelevant and that the office was stand-by equipment. Some Presidents (such as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) gave their Veeps lots of power and responsibilities.

But here we have something new: a Vice President who in a parade of news stories comes across as kind of a separate branch of government to himself.

Still, this perception had not been something that you could say was on the verge of being institutionalized.

Until NOW:

Cheney’s office claims it doesn’t have to comply with the order because it is not an “agency” or “entity” within the executive branch, according to Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is investigating the matter.

White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said it’s clear that the president’s executive order never intended for the vice president’s office to be treated as an “agency.”

“He’s not exempt from following the laws of the United States,” Perino said. “He’s exempt just from this reporting requirement in this particular executive order.”

This sounds like political CYA but it may not be enough to stop what could become a firestorm, particularly if Cheney’s office is in the center of yet-unpublicized controversies to come. And then there’s this:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was asked in January to resolve the legal dispute, but he has not yet ruled on the issue.

Given his testimony to Congress, perhaps Gonzales forgot…

And what about the experts?

Government secrecy specialists insist that Cheney’s office is covered by the executive order and must report the number of times it classifies material and the number of pages it declassifies to the Information Security Oversight Office.

Experts, schmexperts…

Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ government secrecy project, said the executive 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.”

This latest controversy is one more manifestation of an executive branch (or, more accurately, now executive BRANCHES) that seems to be making a power grab that would have shocked Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan or their followers years ago. Goldwater and Reagan were conservative icons back in the days of yesteryear when conservatism stood for solid principles that not everyone would agree with — but they were solid principles and conservatives could be counted on to defend them.

These days, in a spectacle that seemingly is bigger than “American Idol,” Americans are witnessing a lemmings’ march to the sea as a segment of the Republican party repeatedly adjusts its principles and jettisons old ones so they are in sync with whatever the official preference is at the White House — or Vice President’s office.

You don’t want to think about what will happen when the Vice President answers the question “Boxers or briefs?”

But his answer would likely be: “Legal briefs.”

ADDITIONAL NEWS STORIES:
Democrats attack Cheney for secrecy
White House: Of Course, the Rules Don’t Apply to Cheney
Waxman Decries Cheney Security Exemption

SOME ADDITIONAL WEBLOG OPINION:
–John Cole:

Why am I not surprised that Abu Gonzalez’s department has needed 6 months to rule on this issue? I guess what really just floors me is not only will they say this stuff- but they don’t care that they are saying it. They are not even remotely ashamed. And they have supporters cheerleading them the whole way. It is mind numbing. From now on, I am just voting with the smelly dirty hippies.

–James Joyner has a long must-read-in-full post. A small part of it:

Now, because of separation of powers, the president could not enforce an Executive Order requiring Members of Congress or the Supreme Court to submit to these protocols. That could be accomplished only by passage of a law or by the agreement of those branches. But Cheney, despite being the head of a legislative house, is not a Senator. So, of course, he has to comply with Executive Orders, unless the president specifically exempts him….

….I ultimately think Cheney’s claims don’t bear scrutiny in these circumstances. We’ve always thought of the VP as a member of the president’s team and, increasingly, he’s been used that way. He has numerous statutory duties in the Executive Branch, including a seat on the National Security Council. But, theoretically at least, he’s a Constitutional official elected independently of the President and removable only by impeachment. And his main duties, aside from being a “spare tire,” are in the legislative branch.

–The Democratic Daily:

After extensively researching the US Constitution this morning before I attacked the crossword puzzle I have discovered that the term Vice President appears in that revered and trusted document and its amendments no less than than twenty four times. In no instance does the term appear near the words “shall be an employee of the executive department,” however, the term also does not appear near the words “shall maintain an office in the White House where he will hold secret meetings with the various “Captains of Industry” and where it will be convenient for him, from time to time, to pick up the President by the ears for a good corrective shake.”

I guess what we have here is something historians call a “Constitutional Mexican toss up” which will be decided by the courts long after the deaths of the parties involved.

–Political scientist Dr. Steven Taylor:

The assertion that the veep’s office is not part of the executive branch is perhaps the most absurd thing that I have heard in some time. Yes, the VP has some legislative duties, but the notion that that office is not part of the executive branch is insane. One would allow that the first mention of the Vice President in the Constitution is in regards to the veep’s role as president of the Senate, however, the obvious raison d’être for the office is to be, for lack of a more elegant description, back-up equipment for the chief executive office.

Further, Cheney asserted executive privilege when seeking not to share information about his meetings of his Energy Task Force with the Congress. I guess now that the VP’s office is part of the legislative branch by its own assertion, it will be turning those records over to the leadership of the Senate forthwith.

–Americablog’s John Aravosis:

That’s what this issue is about. It’s about protecting our national security secrets during war time. For some reason, Dick Cheney doesn’t think his staff needs to be as careful with our national security secrets, with the national security secrets of our allies, as do other officials in the federal government. That’s an incredibly dangerous and reckless decision that puts at risk the classified information itself, the sources of that information, and every one of us who rely on America’s, and our allies’, intelligence apparatus to keep us safe.

–The Heretik has a characteristically unique take on this that must be read in full. A tiny part 4 U:

In a strange world, Dick Cheney is in favor of an all powerful executive. Just up to the point the executive executive exerts any power over him. At that point the Vice President is not subject to the president’s will because Cheney has a small legislative function as well in the Senate. Irony is not dead. But it is gravely wounded. Cheney is not subject to the legislative branch because he is part of the executive…The scariest words to come out of Cheney’s office are we’re confident. What does that mean? We’re delusional. When will somebody ask Bush who really is in charge?

–Xptraited Texan:

He’s saying that he isn’t actually part of the executive branch because he’s technically, and Constitutionally, the President of the Senate. This is, of course, not the traditional understanding of the Office of the Vice-President – it certainly isn’t the understanding of the means by which the government currently runs (or, if you prefer, see this page). It also has the slight problem of not being upheld by the structure of the US Constitution, which creates both President and Vice-President in Article II. To be fair, it’s mentioned in Article I, but only to name the VP as President of the Senate and to allow other officers to take his place in his absence.

Cheney’s claim would create multiple Constitutional problems, if upheld. I think, at best, the VP can claim to be part of the Senate only in those times when he is actually functioning as part of the Senate. The problem that it creates for Cheney is that only that classified information gained while acting as Senate President could be protected from archiving under executive order. If he’s nothing but Senator-in-Charge, then he has no right to the information he’s protecting. If he’s part of the executive, then his only recourse is to declassify everything he doesn’t want archived – but that would subject it to Freedom of Information Act requests.

–Hara Kiri:

Tricky Dick Cheney just declared a new Branch of the government… There’s the Judicial Branch, Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, and now Sovereign Overlord! Recently the National Archives, which has a unit that oversees classified information from the Executive Branch has ordered that he release his classified documents to them, so he refuses under the excuse that the office of the Vice President isn’t a part of the EB. The Executive Branch, which if my memory serves me correctly encompasses the offices of President, Vice President, Cabinets such as the DEA, NSA, CIA, and the White House Staff and Joint Chiefs.

–Language Barrier:

Dick Cheney offically declared himself above the law several years ago and continues refusing to reveal what he’s up to as our elected Vice-President. I have no doubt that this guy belongs behind bars, at least for crafting the outing of a CIA secret operative during a time of war and demanding the removal of Democratic Attorney Generals nation wide to protect his partisan, political, criminal agenda.

–Kathleen Reardon at The Huffington Post:

The latest travesty of power perpetrated upon America by Dick Cheney certainly makes this clear: the White House has reached the pathologically political stage – the one they used to be approaching. The only thing that truly matters in the White House is the perpetuation of power by those who have it. Ironically, this frame renders all White House actions logical – not right, not moral, not courageous, not anything but congruent with a warped, virulent logic that has infected Washington D.C.