Quick,Karl move the goalpost back.

[Swede]

"It's not breaking the law if the President chose to declassify the information." Well isn't that nice.

[Beelzebud]

1. Shades of Nixon.

[MADem]

5. Yeah, remember how he tried to handle it?

It devolved to the point where a famous bumper sticker was fashioned that read:

IMPEACH THE COX SACKER!

And it was all downhill from there!

[brooklynite]

2. But if that's the case...

Why did W say he wanted to find out who the leaker was? Videotape is such an annoying thing...

[Atman]

3. W's new book "Everything I know 'bout governin' I learned in Kindergarten"

#1: "Because I say so, that's why!" is a perfectly legitimate answer when you don't really have one.

Any others?

[amitten]

4. That's the great thing about excessive lying. It's self-correcting.

The more they lie, the harder it is to keep up with the lies.

More and more, they are publicly contradicting themselves. Getting caught in their own poorly-constructed web.

The Neocons, friends, bit off WAAAAAAAAY more than they could chew.

Enjoy the show! :hi:

[tulsakatz]

6. I'm still getting caught up with the news today...

....but I recall back when it looked like Cheney wanted to declassify some stuff regarding Plame, there was some ex-CIA person who said that even if Cheney wanted to declassify something, there is a specific procedure that has to be followed. Apparently, they can't just say this is declassified and bingo! It's done!

[carolinalady]

7. We discussed this a long time ago-actually the President is not

authorized to reveal the name of the undercover agent. That is one of the few things he can not do.

Almost anything can be declassified by the president, or the head of the agency overseeing the particular information. But any classified information covered by statute does not fall under the allowance for declassification . The 1982 law, From the US Code in National Security, See: USC § 421 makes it illegal per statute for a covert agent's identity to be declassified by anyone up to and including the president unless the agent does so on their own volition. And even the covert agent must be given permission to do so.
So when you read Sec. 6.2 "General Provision" in EO 13929 -- that provision makes it absolutely clear that "Nothing in this order shall supersede any requirement made by or under the National Security Act of 1947, as amended." So the US Code; Section 421 cannot be superseded by EO 13929.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/26764

also: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50/usc_sec_50_00000421----000-.html