White House says Bush, like Cheney, isn't bound by rules of Executive Branch
posted by
Wally
6:50 AM
The White House said Friday that, like Vice President Dick Cheney's office, President Bush's office is exempt from a presidential order requiring government agencies that handle classified national security information to submit to oversight by an independent federal watchdog.
The executive order that Bush issued in March 2003 covers all government agencies that are part of the executive branch and, although it doesn't specifically say so, was not meant to apply to the vice president's office or the president's office, a White House spokesman said. Sorry George and Dick, but if it doesn't specifically exempt you, it includes you. You wrote the law, now you're stuck with it. Man up and deal with it.The order aimed to create a uniform, governmentwide security system for classifying, declassifying and safeguarding national security information. It gave the archives' oversight unit responsibility for evaluating the effectiveness of each agency's security classification programs. It applied only to the executive branch of government, mostly agencies led by Bush administration appointees, as opposed to legislative and judicial offices.
In the executive order, Bush emphasized the importance of the public's right to know what its government was doing, particularly in the global campaign against terrorism. "Our democratic principles require that the American people be informed of the activities of their government," the executive order said. Well..... we're waiting. Inform us for a change.
President is NOT above the law
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