When the national office overseeing classified government documents tried to work with Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff in 2003, Cheney refused to cooperate.
Cheney now wants to abolish the office altogether, said Henry Waxman, chairman of that department.
The National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office, or ISOO, was established by former President Bill Clinton and revised by President Bush in 2003. It ensures that agencies in the executive branch properly handle classified information and documents.
The office works to balance information that is necessarily confidential with information that should be available to the public in a democracy with a free flow of information.
Cheney's staff complied with the ISOO in 2001 and 2002, but refused to comply in 2003 and again in 2004. Now, he claims the vice president's office is not an agency in the executive branch and does not possess any classified information.
But if Cheney's team willingly worked with ISOO in the past, why the sudden switch? How bad is the classified information he is now apparently trying to keep hidden?
This move is characteristic of Cheney and the entire executive branch. When someone disagrees with you, fire them. If it's an entire governmental office, abolish it.
As long as the executive branch continues to consolidate power with lies, secrecy and overtly illegal actions, the United States' system of checks and balances will continue to crumble.
And regardless of what Cheney and his office claim, the vice president's office is part of the executive branch.
The current administration's free reign on executive power needs to end - but won't anytime soon if Cheney continues to raze every hint of resistance in his path.
In 2001, the vice president's office refused to hand over the names of the energy executives Cheney consulted with about the U.S. energy policy, and just last month the administration was caught withholding visitor logs to Cheney's residence, according to CNN.
The administration claimed the secrecy was necessary so Cheney could get candid advice from visitors.
The worst part about the blatant, black veil of misinformation spewing continuously from the executive branch is the complete lack of action from the rest of the U.S. government and the American people.
The executive branch builds power by firing opposition and promoting allies. Even the judicial branch is no longer nonpartisan, and the Legislature can't even pass bills the American public support because President Bush can, and often will, veto it.
The ISOO needs to keep pressing Cheney's office and the rest of the executive branch, and the media must continue to report on the actions of the presidential office. Only exposure can halt Cheney's twisted agenda.
