Obama Administration to Cheney: Request Denied

Weekly Standard ^

[Sub-Driver]

Obama Administration to Cheney: Request Denied

The Obama administration has turned down former Vice President Dick Cheney’s request for the declassification of two CIA reports on the effectiveness of the Agency’s detainee program, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned. A letter dated May 7, 2009, from the CIA’s Information and Privacy Coordinator, Delores M. Nelson, rejected Cheney’s request because the documents he has requested are involved in a Freedom of Information Act court battle.

“In researching the information in question, we have discovered that it is currently the subject of pending FOIA litigation (Bloche v. Department of Defense, Amnesty International v. Central Intelligence Agency). Therefore, the document is excluded from Mandatory Declassification Review,” Nelson wrote in the letter to the National Archives, the agency responsible for handling Cheney’s request.

The rejection of Cheney’s request will almost certainly intensify the public back-and-forth between the former vice president and the current administration. The contentious debate over enhanced interrogation exploded on April 16, when Obama authorized the release of four memos on interrogation prepared by the Bush Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. In a statement accompanying the release, Obama pointed to “exceptional circumstances” surrounding the memos that required their declassification and release. Four days later, in an interview on Fox News, Cheney revealed that he had requested the declassification of two memos that demonstrate that the techniques were effective.

White House officials have told reporters and members of Congress that the Cheney memos do not bolster the case for enhanced interrogation, as Cheney has suggested. But they have nonetheless refused to release them. President Obama has the legal authority to declassify the documents “with the wave of his hand,” according to one expert.

[Uncle Hal]

The more I see and hear Chaney, the more I like him. He is a good man and loves this country. He is doing what he believes is best for us. When I see the Democrats and the MSM go after him and vilify him it makes me sick. Bush is a good and honorable man as well.

[livius]

Most of the docs are probably already gone.

I have been reading a book about Joseph McCarthy where the author was attempting to document all of the hearings and findings - and the bizarre thing was that most of the truly important records (and mind you, these were public hearings with a document index, etc.) have disappeared. This includes everything from records of hearings that should theoretically have been in the Library of Congress to things that were in newspaper morgues or academic institutions.

Many of the papers seem to have been removed in the 90s, during the Clinton era, based on the indications of when they were last seen. I guess the Dems figured that was a good time to sanitize the records and Clinton obviously was cool with that.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

What’s Sandy Berger doing these days?

[JenB987]

He’s standing up and speaking out when no one for us will and it’s making a lot of people’s eyebrows raise. Whether or not someone believes Cheney should or shouldn’t be doing what he’s doing, it’s making the Obama administration have to answer questions they’d rather sweep under the rug. Some of the public is thinking “Cheney shouldn’t be doing that, but since the question is asked, what’s Obama’s answer?”

Cheney is absolutely masterful...defending the Bush administration, making Obama look like a pre schooler and raising awareness for the safety of this nation.

God bless him.

[kinsman redeemer]

Dick Cheney (I miss him so!) should have done the honorable thing:
Stuffed the memos in his socks when he left office.