(I just posted this on another related thread, but it's fitting here, too)
According to the letter sent by William Leonard to Addington, he writes
"...I recently received a written complaint suggesting that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) is 'willfully violating' a provision of the Order and of "Classified National Security Information Directive No. 1' (32 CFR Part 2001) (the Directive), which implements the Order. The specific concern is with respect to the failure of the OVP to 'report annually to the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office statistics related to its security classification program' in accordance with section 2001.80 of the Directive."
PDF file link:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/isoo/isoo-ag.pdfHere's 2001.80 of the Directive:
Sec. 2001.80 Statistical reporting <5.2(b)(4)>.
Each agency that creates or handles classified information shall report annually to the Director of ISOO statistics related to its security classification program. The Director will instruct agencies what data elements are required, and how and when they are to be reported.
http://www.archives.gov/isoo/policy-documents/eo-12958-implementing-directive.html#2001.40According to your OP:
Fratto conceded that the lengthy directive, technically an amendment to an existing executive order, does not specifically exempt the president's office or the vice president's office from the requirements. Instead, it refers to "agencies" as being subject to the requirements, which Fratto said did not include the two executive offices. "It does take a little bit of inference," Fratto said....
According to the EO that Bush issued in March 2003:
Part 6. General Provisions
Sec. 6.1. Definitions.
For purposes of this order:
~snip~
(b) “Agency” means any “Executive agency,” as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105; any “Military department” as defined in 5 U.S.C. 102; and any other entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information.
http://www.archives.gov/isoo/policy-documents/eo-12958-amendment.html#1.15 U.S.C. 105 defines "Executive agency" as:
TITLE 5 > PART I > CHAPTER 1 > § 105
§ 105. Executive agency
For the purpose of this title, “Executive agency” means an Executive department, a Government corporation, and an independent establishment.
The same U.S.C. defines an "Executive department" as:
TITLE 5 > PART I > CHAPTER 1 > § 101
§ 101. Executive departments
The Executive departments are:
The Department of State.
The Department of the Treasury.
The Department of Defense.
The Department of Justice.
The Department of the Interior.
The Department of Agriculture.
The Department of Commerce.
The Department of Labor.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Department of Transportation.
The Department of Energy.
The Department of Education.
The Department of Veterans Affairs.
The same U.S.C. defines a "Government corporation" as:
TITLE 5 > PART I > CHAPTER 1 > § 103
§ 103. Government corporation
For the purpose of this title—
(1) “Government corporation” means a corporation owned or controlled by the Government of the United States; and
(2) “Government controlled corporation” does not include a corporation owned by the Government of the United States.
and it defines an "independent establishment" as:
TITLE 5 > PART I > CHAPTER 1 > § 104
§ 104. Independent establishment
For the purpose of this title, “independent establishment” means—
(1) an establishment in the executive branch (other than the United States Postal Service or the Postal Rate Commission) which is not an Executive department, military department, Government corporation, or part thereof, or part of an independent establishment; and
(2) the Government Accountability Office.
See for definitions:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode05/usc_sup_01_5_10_I_30_1.html According to that website, "The most recent edit of Title 5 of the US Code was released by the Law Revision Counsel - LRC - (
http://uscode.house.gov/) of the U.S. House of Representative on 2007-04-17...and most recently processed by the Legal Information Institute on Wed Apr 18 04:25:12 2007"
So, according to the definitions referred to in the EO Bush signed, the OVP nor the President's office (Frotto: "agencies ... did not include the two executive offices...") is included.
Is this how Bush and Cheney are claiming they are exempt????
This is driving me nuts trying to find their logic -- and mind you this is Addington's doing.