[One_who_hopes_to_know]

The supreme court has ruled that the decision resides with the executive branch. This is what tripped up some of the Dems in trying to go after Cheny for telling Libby to release some classified info. The VP can unclassify anything he wants if he has the Presidents approval. The President may unclassify anything he wants. He just has to be prepared to take the heat. There are no laws broken if he does it.

[FreeReign]

The President may unclassify anything he wants.

Yes, the president certainly can unclassify anything that he wants. If these documents remain classified for the moment, it's a pretty safe bet that the president has been talked into this position by Negroponte.

[tongue-tied]

hmmm....maybe someone with access to the governing directives can help me here, but I still disagree.

If DOD classifies something, they are the only ones that can change the classification level. If DOJ classifies something, only they can declassify, etc.

There are time limitations, whereby an item is automatically declassified after a certain amount of time unless reclassified by the original classifying authority, but otherwise I think only the original can decide it is no longer required to be classified.