About that Executive Order - Attn Plameologists

The most intriguing part of VP Cheney's interview yesterday had nothing to do with how he shot an old man in the face and heart.  It was this little nugget that Brit Hume accidentally got out of him:

"I have certainly advocated declassification. I have participated in declassification decisions," Cheney said. Asked for details, he said, "I don't want to get into that. There's an executive order that specifies who has classification authority, and obviously it focuses first and foremost on the president, but also includes the vice president."

Ok so about that Executive Order...

Executive Order 12958 (pdf) was signed by Bill Clinton in 1995.  It covers authority for classifying and declassifying national security information.  As originally written section 1.4 lists the authority. Here's the relevant part:

Sec. 1.4. Classification Authority. (a) The authority to classify information
originally may be exercised only by:
(1) the President;
(2) agency heads and officials designated by the President in the
Federal Register; or
(3) United States Government officials delegated this authority pursuant
to paragraph (c), below.

George W. ammended this EO as follows (emphasis added):

Sec. 1.3. Classification Authority. (a) The authority to classify information originally may be exercised only by:

(1) the President and, in the performance of executive duties, the Vice President;

(2) agency heads and officials designated by the President in the Federal Register; and

(3) United States Government officials delegated this authority pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section.

Aside from the fact that the section numbers don't line up, what I think needs more investigation is the timing.  Bush's EO was signed on March 25, 2003.  Recall that the reason Hume asked the question is because of the Libby case.  

In a recent court filing, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald revealed Libby's assertions to a grand jury that superiors had authorized him to spread sensitive information from a National Intelligence Estimate. The administration used the NIE assessment on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction as part of its justification for going to war.

So when did Cheney authorize this?  According to dkospedia, the decision to discredit Joe Wilson was made March 8th, 2003 at a meeting in the VP's office. That raises the possibility in my mind that Cheney's reference to the EO yesterday is just plain bull (yeah, I know, big surprise).

I'm no Plameologist, but I know there are plenty here.  I hope this is useful information in the quest for justice in this case.