To Classify or De-Classify – What Was the Question?

Byron York comments on Dick Cheney’s interview with Brit Hume where the question was clearly whether the Vice President had the authority to declassify information. Did Cheney lie when he claimed there was an Executive Order giving him declassification authority?

Mr. York points to Executive Order 13292, issued by President Bush on March 25, 2003. While it does expand the authority of the Vice President to classify information, the issue is declassification. I guess Mr. York does not understand the difference. Fortunately for us, Steve Clemons does. Steven Aftergood provides more analysis.

Update: I just listened to Jeffrey Toobin on CNN’s American Morning. He claimed that Cheney told the truth as the Executive Order gives him clear authority to classify information. If this little slip up by CNN’s supposed legal expert wasn’t enough for me to barf up my breakfast, his discussion of Libby’s indictment was. It seems the latest spin is that if Libby was ordered by Cheney to reveal that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent, Libby is not guilty. Does Toobin even understand that the indictments cover perjury and obstruction of justice?