June 22, 2007

Waxman vs. Cheney

UPDATED.

Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued a letter [PDF] to Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday accusing him of trying to bypass a presidential executive order mandating safeguards for classified information.

According to the letter, Cheney rebuffed a 2004 request by the National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office for an inspection of his office pursuant to the order, claiming the vice president's office was not "an entity within the executive branch" and therefore did not have to comply.

"I question both the legality and the wisdom of your actions," Waxman wrote. Citing a series of alleged leaks from Cheney's office, including the Valerie Plame case, Waxman concluded that "it would appear particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive branch officials."

Going a step further, Waxman's documents suggest that Cheney's office was trying to subvert the oversight system itself. When monitors at the National Archives protested the attempt to put them off, the New York Times reports, the vice president's office threatened to shut down their whole department.

The oversight unit has appealed to the Justice Department, which hasn't issued a ruling yet. But the DOJ and officials at the Archives confirmed the "basic chronology of events" presented in Waxman's letter.

A Cheney spokesperson said his team is "confident that we’re conducting the office properly under the law," and White House spokesman Tony Fratto said last night that the administration does comply with the executive order.

Posted at 9:32 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Dick Cheney, House
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