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WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney's office has refused to comply with an executive order governing the handling of classified information for the past four years and recently tried to abolish the office that sought to enforce those rules, according to documents released Thursday.
Under the order, executive branch offices are to give the Information Security Oversight Office data on how much material they have classified and declassified.
The vice president's office provided the information in 2001 and 2002, then stopped. When the oversight office objected, Cheney's office suggested the oversight office be shut down, according to documents released by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). The oversight office, a unit of the National Archives, appealed the issue to the Justice Department, which has not yet ruled.
Waxman said Cheney's office claims it need not comply with the executive order because it is not an "entity within the executive branch."
"Your decision to except your office from the president's order is problematic because it could place national security secrets at risk," Waxman wrote in a letter to Cheney on Thursday.
"I know the vice president wants to operate with unprecedented secrecy," Waxman said in an interview. "But this is absurd. This order is designed to keep classified information safe."
The Tribune reported in April 2006 that Cheney exempts his office from a demand that executive agencies report each year on the volume of documents they classify or declassify. The vice president maintains he is exempt from that reporting requirement because his office is both executive and legislative, Cheney argues, due to his role as president of the Senate.
Under the order, executive branch offices are to give the Information Security Oversight Office data on how much material they have classified and declassified.
The vice president's office provided the information in 2001 and 2002, then stopped. When the oversight office objected, Cheney's office suggested the oversight office be shut down, according to documents released by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). The oversight office, a unit of the National Archives, appealed the issue to the Justice Department, which has not yet ruled.
Waxman said Cheney's office claims it need not comply with the executive order because it is not an "entity within the executive branch."
"Your decision to except your office from the president's order is problematic because it could place national security secrets at risk," Waxman wrote in a letter to Cheney on Thursday.
"I know the vice president wants to operate with unprecedented secrecy," Waxman said in an interview. "But this is absurd. This order is designed to keep classified information safe."
The Tribune reported in April 2006 that Cheney exempts his office from a demand that executive agencies report each year on the volume of documents they classify or declassify. The vice president maintains he is exempt from that reporting requirement because his office is both executive and legislative, Cheney argues, due to his role as president of the Senate.
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