SECRECY RUN AMOK

In his latest abuse of power, Vice President Dick Cheney’s office contends that an executive order regarding the handling of classified information does not apply to that office because it is not part of the executive branch. Worse, the vice president’s office has sought the abolishment of the agency seeking to fulfill the requirements of the order.

If the vice president’s office continues to flout the law and the Justice Department refuses to enforce it, the Senate must join the recently launched House investigation.

The Information Security Oversight Office, which is part of the National Archives, is at the center of the standoff. The office was created in 1978 by President Carter. An executive order signed by President Clinton in 1995 further defined the office’s role in overseeing a uniform system of classifying and declassifying documents. The order was amended by President Bush in 2003.

This is how Byron York described the changes in a 2006 National Review article: “Throughout Executive Order 13292, there are changes … which, in effect, give the vice president the power of the president in dealing with classified material.

“Executive Order 13292 is real evidence of real power in the vice president’s office,” he continued. “Since the beginning of the administration, Dick Cheney has favored measures allowing the executive branch to keep more things secret. And in March of 2003, the president gave him the authority to do it.”

In 2004, the Information Security Oversight Office notified the vice president’s office that it would soon conduct an on-site inspection to ensure the office was following the executive order, something that was done routinely until 2002. According to the ISOO, the vice president’s office blocked the inspection, saying it was not bound by the order because it performs both legislative (the vice president is the president of the Senate, although his only real function there is to break tie votes) and executive functions.

This is ludicrous. Executive Order 13292 repeatedly refers to the vice president “in the performance of executive duties.” Further, if the vice president’s office claims not to be an executive agency, the order says it applies to “any other entity within the executive branch that comes into possession of classified information.” The vice president can’t simultaneously get more authority to handle classified information and then claim he is not covered by the order that gave him that authority.

Earlier this year, the ISOO asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to determine if the executive order applied to the vice president’s office. It has yet to receive a response. In the meantime, Vice President Cheney pressed the White House to further amend the order to abolish the oversight office. That view has so far been rejected by the team considering another rewrite of the order.

Vice President Cheney was wrong on the nation’s energy policy, holding secret meetings and touting production over conservation. He was wrong about Saddam Hussein’s weapons capabilities and torturing prisoners. He was wrong about the effect of tax cuts on the federal deficit.

He is wrong again to keep his office from routine oversight. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has begun an investigation. The Senate should follow suit.