What Specifically is the Process to DeClassify Information?

[orleans]

the msm keeps saying that if bush said it then it was declassified. well, isn't there a specific process the "executive" needs to take/go through (such as a paper signing of what is being declassified?) before he can tell someone to release the information?

[soothsayer]

1. the bastard has classified a whole lot of previously declassified

stuff too, btw

[orleans]

2. right. and i'm assuming that when he classified stuff it needed to be

documented, recorded so as what specifically was being classified. doesn't some such procedure apply when he declassifies?

or can he just spit something out of his tweeky mouth and POOF like magic his administration can start whispering it to reporters

(and if it was so declassified why did libby tell judy miller to refer to him as a former hill staffer so as to deceive readers or throw us off the track as to who told her? because it was wrong he was saying it and he knew it was wrong!)

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. He needs to sign an executive order of sorts.

Something would need to be signed.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. See my post on Executive Order 12958

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2557135&mesg_id=2557135

And please vote it up so it stays visible. I really want some outside the beltway independent legal analysis of the cabal's legal position here.

[orleans]

6. done n/t

[Igel]

5. The prez--Clinton, then *--set up the process that

subsections of the executive go through. I presume each produces their own internal guide, since they--by executive order--are in charge of the process.

Warren's ultimately asking a series of questions. One is, If the prez issues an Executive Order saying X is binding on the executive branch under his control is it also binding on him? Well, obviously not in the last analysis, because he could just issue another EO overriding the first. It doesn't take any great legal skill or education to know that if you can reverse an order it's ultimately not binding on you. But let's not go to the 'last analysis'.

So, Did the EO Clinton signed (and which was reaffirmed, with amendments, by *) limit his own authority to classify and declassify? Well, it delegates responsibility to subsections of the executive, stipulates the process for those subsections to classify and declassify, and says that each subsection's authority over its own decision cannot be overriden by a different subsection. I don't think it discusses presidential authority or procedures to be followed; I simply don't know if there are other procedures that are codified for that. Most of the media consensus implies that delegation of authority doesn't automatically denote loss of authority.

So the question then becomes, Does declassification by the prez of things classified by the executive require a written order, or is a verbal order sufficient? Aye, there's the rub. Unless a procedure's been codified, it's anybody's guess.