Official: Cheney Hasn't Requested Release Of Torture Intel

Media Quote Cheney On Torture Memos Without Noting His Role In Matter

This is getting downright Kafkaesque: I just reached a spokesperson for former Veep Dick Cheney, and she categorically refused to explain what Cheney meant when he claimed on Fox News last night that he had “formally asked” the CIA to release intelligence allegedly proving that torture works.
As I noted below, Cheney claimed he’d asked the CIA to release intel reports he’d read detailing info successfully collected via torture. But an intelligence source familiar with the situation told me that the CIA has received no such request from Cheney.
So I asked a spokesperson for Cheney at his transitional office in McLean, Virginia, to explain Cheney’s formal request. “He made the request at the end of March,” the spokesperson replied. “It was a formal request that the CIA declassify specific documents.”
I told the spokesperson about the intelligence source’s denial, and asked how procedurally this formal request had been made. The reply: “We have no comment.”
Ah, well. Amazingly, Cheney’s claim is being treated with no skepticism whatsoever. Today’sTimes, for instance, noted uncritically that Cheney went on Fox to “announce” that he’d asked the CIA to declassify these reports. MSNBC just wrapped up a segment on Cheney’s demand, too.
Let’s be as clear as possible about this: If what Cheney did is merely ask for the release of these documents on TV, that doesn’t count as a formal request, because it won’t result in anything. If news orgs are going to reproduce Cheney’s claim, why not try to determine whether it’s true or not? Is it possible that maybe Cheney doesn’t really mean it when he says he wants the CIA to release this alleged info?
Update: Mystery solved: Cheney made the request for the documents through the National Archives.