If Executive Branch Can Declassify Plame's Status At Will, Can They Ignore Protocol As Well?

[KittyWampus]

It seems that POTUS may have the legal capacity to declassify a CIA agent's status. And the Vice President MAY be given that privilege.

Just for the sake of argument, and accepting that Cheney was given the legal right to declassify and make known Plame's status...

did Cheney and/or Bush also have the legal right to declassify her status without following previously accepted procedure?

[hlthe2b]

1. Constitutional scholars have said no, including Jonathan Turley

from George Washington University... Perhaps someone not at work can take the time to find his comments on Countdown and elsewhere.

Asking this question is pretty moot, given that the Bushies* via their illegal signing statements have reigned as though the constitution and the law does not apply to them. Beyond the fact the procedures are laid out in Bush*s own executive order-- the one he himself (and CHeney) apparently decided don't apply to THEM....

[PDJane]

2. While the country was distracted........

with things like an illegal invasion and occupation or two, the US has been taken over by a dictator. It's still soft fascism, but it's there.

[Fresh_Start]

3. they couldn't declassify HER

but they could declassify NIE

[hlthe2b]

6. Hello? Semantics... The issue is declassification of info

regarding her status, including the NIE.

[Fresh_Start]

9. Not semantics, there are special rules for

covert agents. Its doesn't fall under normal information declassification rules.

[rodeodance]

4. you betcha!

[dkofos]

5. They think they are above the law.

They can do what ever they like because gonzo will cover their asses.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. No, unless you believe in the 'unitary executive' theory of our government.

1. Does Vice-President Cheney have the legal authority to declassify material single-handedly?
2. And even if he does, if Cheney proved also to be the source of an instruction to leak information about Valerie Plame, does his legal authority extend to the exposing the identity of a covert CIA agent?
3. And if the answer to either question above is "no" does that amount to an impeachable offense?

But the Plame leak is a much trickier issue. If it proved to be the case that Cheney ordered the outing of Plame without authority and with the knowledge that she was a covert operative then I think given that Congress has made clear by statute that this is a special circumstance, this leak does rise to the sort of 'high crime' that is an impeachable offense. It was something that directly weakened the US by exposing an agent, ruining her value to the CIA and also her career, and it was done for vile, partisan purposes, perhaps even in part as personal payback.

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2006/02/decreasingly_hypothetical_questions.html

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001253.php

http://www.liberaloasis.com/archives/021206.htm#021606


Since everyone in the executive branch is subordinate to the President, the President can declassify at will (except for specific items that are outlawed by Congress, say for example, the identities of covert agents).

There are several specific categories of classified information that are protected by statute -- communications intelligence, identities of covert agents, nuclear weapons design information, and some others. Those statutes are binding on the executive branch as well as on everyone else.

Is leaking the identity of a CIA operative illegal? Yes, under the terms of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

[mmonk]

8. Short answer, no.

[leftofthedial]

10. king george and his viceroy dick

can do anything they want

they rule this country, after all