http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/cheneys-office-dismisses-dems-outrage-on-documents-2007-06-26.html Cheney’s office dismisses Dems’ outrage on documents
By Chris Good
June 26, 2007
Vice President Cheney’s office Tuesday dismissed Democratic claims that Cheney is putting himself above the law because his office refused to grant access to an oversight agency that is tasked with reviewing how classified information is handled.
“Constitutional issues in government are generally best left for discussion when unavoidable disputes arise in a specific context instead of in theoretical discussions,” Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington, said in a letter to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
Kerry had joined a growing chorus of Democrats who criticized Cheney’s refusal to submit to Executive Order 12958, signed by President Clinton and amended by President Bush in 2003. The order requires the National Archives’ Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) to oversee executive agencies’ handling of classified documents.
According to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Cheney ignored questions from Waxman and the National Archives in 2006. Still unwilling to submit its document classifications to oversight, Waxman said Cheney’s office responded in 2007 by seeking to abolish the ISOO.
Addington echoed arguments from the White House that Executive Order 12958 treats the Office of the Vice President the same as the president — not as an “agency,” and therefore not answerable to the ISOO.
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