To most casual observers, Richard "Dick" Cheney's public presence in the media has seemed extraordinary for a former Vice President. In part that's because Cheney's agenda as Vice President was not aimed at getting noticed by the press, except when it served his purposes. So, for example, given his operational interests, he was quite vocal on the topic of intelligence briefings for the Congress during his interview with Jim Lehrer on February 7, 2006. Defending the practice of briefing just eight members of the House and Senate, and then not at the same time, Cheney explained:
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: If we had briefed all of the members of the Intelligence Committee, both Houses, as some have suggested, we would have had to brief 70 members of Congress into this program, because that's how many people have served on those two committees over the intervening four years.
And the implication that the people's representatives can't be trusted wasn't even challenged.
Be that as it may, Cheney said "we ... briefed" as if he had participated and, indeed, that's what the letter Senator Jay Rockefeller addressed to him assumed--a letter sent three years earlier and Cheney still remembered in 2006 that Rockefeller
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: Wrote a letter three years ago and never raised any concerns after that, sat through numerous briefings, never had any questions that weren't answered.
Given that the CIA's records of who attended the briefings of the Gang of Eight, and when, have now been demonstrated as inaccurate by Senator Bob Graham, Speaker Pelosi and Representative David Obey, one has to ask how Cheney would know, if he wasn't there in person.
That he was is what the current call by Cheney for the de-classification of documents he claims to have merely read, rather than requested, seems exactly designed to refute. Indeed, keeping the focus on the contents of the briefings and the people who were entitled to the information, is being used to disguise the fact that Cheney wasn't even supposed to be in the loop. Just as, in retrospect, the staff explanation that Cheney didn't expect Plame's spouse to be sent to Niger to look for an answer to his question was designed to refute the implication that Cheney was exercising executive authority.
It seems that Cheney is sensitive to the charge that he arrogated executive powers unto himself. It's one thing for the President to pass the daily intelligence estimate on; it's another for Cheney to order more information up. So, since in the instance of Wilson's trip to Niger, there was no evidence Wilson had been sent by Bush, Cheney opted to point the finger at Valerie Plame, Wilson's spouse. That this was generally consistent with his disregard for the Agency was perhaps, at least initially, icing on the cake. Then, when his subordinate Libby was declared a felon, Cheney was irked , but not enough to fess up.
Cheney was not present at the creation of the Gang of Eight in the October 5, 2001 memorandum, either as disseminator or recipient of classified information. However, it seems telling that in a report prepared for Senator Feinstein in December of 2005, Alfred Cumming, includes the Vice President:
By virtue of his constitutional role as commander-and-in-chief and head of the executive branch, the President has access to all national intelligence collected, analyzed and produced by the Intelligence Community. The President’s position also affords him the authority - which, at certain times, has been aggressively asserted (1) - to restrict the flow of intelligence information to Congress and its two intelligence committees, which are charged with providing legislative oversight of the Intelligence Community. (2) As a result, the President, and a small number of presidentially-designated Cabinet-level officials, including the Vice President (3) - in contrast to Members of Congress (4) - have access to a far greater overall volume of intelligence and to more sensitive intelligence information, including information regarding intelligence sources and methods. They, unlike Members of Congress, also have the authority to more extensively task the Intelligence Community, and its extensive cadre of analysts, for follow-up information. As a result, the President and his most senior advisors arguably are better positioned to assess the quality of the Community’s intelligence more accurately than is Congress. (5)
How the Vice President, a member of the legislative branch got included in the group that
have the authority to more extensively task the Intelligence Community, and its extensive cadre of analysts, for follow-up information.
is a good question, especially now that Cheney seems at pains to distance himself from having actually exercised the "authority."
Finally, since only Senator Rockefeller's expression of concern has been noted in recent press reports, it seems worth re-posting the whole thing.
July 17, 2003
Dear Mr. Vice President,
I am writing to reiterate my concerns regarding the sensitive intelligence issues we discussed today with the DCI, DIRNSA, Chairman Roberts and our House Intelligence Committee counterparts.
Clearly, the activities we discussed raise profound oversight issues. As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney. Given the security restrictions associated with this information, and my inability to consult staff or counsel on my own, I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse these activities.
As I reflect on the meeting today, and the future we face, John Poindexter’s TIA project sprung to mind, exacerbating my concern regarding the direction the Administration is moving with regard to security, technology, and surveillance.
Without more information and the ability to draw on any independent legal or technical expertise, I simply cannot satisfy lingering concerns raised by the briefing we received.
I am retaining a copy of this letter in a sealed envelope in the secure spaces of the Senate Intelligence Committee to ensure that I have a record of this communication.
I appreciate your consideration of my views.
Most respectfully,
Jay Rockefeller
P.S. The UN seems to be compiling an index of interesting documents on our intelligence programs.