A Rogue Law Unto Himself.

Isikoff: 'A New Cheney-Gonzales Mystery'

RAW STORYPublished: Sunday June 24, 2007
Michael Isikoff is reporting "a new Cheney-Gonzales mystery" in the current issue of Newsweek. It has recently become known that Cheney's office has refused to comply with an executive order requiring annual reports on security measures, claiming that the vice president is not part of the executive branch. The government official responsible for enforcing the order, J. William Leonard, complained about this last January to Attorney General Gonzales, asking for an official ruling, but he never received a response.
Isikoff asks, "Why didn't Gonzales act on Leonard's request? His aides assured reporters that Leonard's letter has been 'under review' for the past five months—by Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). But on June 4, an OLC lawyer denied a Freedom of Information Act request about the Cheney dispute asserting that OLC had 'no documents' on the matter, according to a copy of the letter obtained by NEWSWEEK. Steve Aftergood, the Federation of American Scientists researcher who filed the request, said he found the denial letter 'puzzling and inexplicable'—especially since Leonard had copied OLC chief Steve Bradbury on his original letter to Gonzales."
Congressional investigators have now become interested in the matter, according to Isikoff, and Rep. Henry Waxman has told Newsweek that he plans to investigate the Justice Department's handling of the issue.
Link to full Newsweek story

CHENEY DODGED OVERSIGHT FOR FIVE YEARS

Michael RostonPublished: Sunday June 24, 2007
While news of the re-location of the Vice President's office outside of the executive branch surprised many political observers Thursday, earlier news reports reveal that Dick Cheney and his staff have long maintained that for the purposes of certain laws, the Office of the Vice President is a unique part of the government that is not part of the executive or legislative branches.
In 2005, the Center for Public Integrity reported that Cheney's office has considered itself outside the executive branch since 2002 when it argued that it was exempt from disclosing trips taken by its employees paid for by non-federal sources.
"Instead of making disclosures like most of the White House, Cheney's office since March 2002 has periodically responded to [Office of Government Ethics] inquiries by stating that it is not obligated to file such disclosure forms for travel funded by non-federal sources," wrote Kate Sheppard and Bob Williams. "The letters were signed by then-Counsel to the Vice President David Addington...In the letters to the Office of Government Ethics, Addington writes that the Office of the Vice President is not classified as an agency of the executive branch and is therefore not required to issue reports on travel, lodging and related expenses funded by non-federal sources."
Tom Fitton of the group Judicial Watch went on to tell the CPI that for Cheney and his staff, "Their view is that the vice president is a constitutional office that is not subject to the laws that others in the executive branch are. They have been consistent in that."

Ordered visitor logs destroyed; Man-sized safes in office

VP created new secret document classification, keeps 'man-size' safes
A massive piece in Sunday's Washington Post reveals the true extent of secrecy Vice President Dick Cheney requires.
So clandestine is the Vice President's work that he has created a new secret document designation: "Treated As: Top Secret/SCI."

That's not all: the piece also reveals that Cheney keeps 'man-size' Mosler safes on hand for "workaday business" and has destroyed all Secret Service visitor logs, in addition to already refusing to comply with a national security directive issued by President Bush, which RAW STORY first reported earlier this week.
Not only does he refuse to give the names of his staff, Cheney won't even disclose how many people he employs.
"Across the board, the vice president's office goes to unusual lengths to avoid transparency," the Post article says. "Cheney declines to disclose the names or even the size of his staff, generally releases no public calendar and ordered the Secret Service to destroy his visitor logs." >>>cont