‘The disappointment I feel with..the abuse of the classification system in this instance is profound,’ said former ISOO Director William Leonard. Former Classification Policy Chief Nails Bush On ‘Torture Memo’By Cliff Montgomery – Apr. 17th, 2008The notorious, newly-declassified ‘torture memo’ from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an issue which “exemplifies the political abuse of classification authority,” according to Steven Aftergood, spokesman for the government secrecy watchdog group Federation of American Scientists (FAS).William Leonard, the U.S. government’s premier classification oversight officer from 2002-2007, agreed in an apparent discussion with Aftergood. The FAS spokesman wrote about his exchange with Leonard in the Apr. 3rd edition of his e-newsletter, Secrecy News.”The disappointment I feel with respect to the abuse of the classification system in this instance is profound,” Leonard said.Leonard retired as Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) director in September 2007. The ISOO reports to the White House on classification policy.”The document in question is purely a legal analysis,” Leonard continued, adding that the 2003 memo on torture held “nothing which would justify classification.”The OLC memo breathlessly claimed that criminal statutes which outlaw torture “do not apply to properly-authorized interrogations of enemy combatants”–in short, insisting that Bush’s authority as commander-in chief of U.S. armed forces somehow gives him the sole ability to determine, at whim, which laws His Majesty shall follow…and which laws he shall not.Aside from the proclamation’s false logic, the legal requirements for classification were brushed aside for this memo–even though such matters are expressly required by the White House’s executive order regarding classification.”It is not even apparent that [John] Yoo [who wrote the torture memo] had original classification authority,” pointed out Leonard.”All too often, government officials simply assert classification. To enjoy the legal safeguards of the classification system, you need to do more than that. Those basic, elemental steps were not followed in this instance,” he told Aftergood.Leonard also pointed out the atrocious nature of the deviations from U.S. policy and common decency authorized by the OLC memo, which eventually was rescinded. But, Leonard told Aftergood, such breaks with classification policy are clearly what enabled the Bush Administration to set up a torture program without a shred of oversight or accountability.”To learn that such a document is classified has the same effect for me as waking up one morning and learning that after all these years there is a ‘secret’ Article IV to the Constitution that the American people did not even know about,” said Leonard.”There is no information contained in this document which gives an advantage to the enemy,” he continued, adding that “the only possible rationale for making it secret was to keep it from the American people.”Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
How Necessary Laws Are Killed These Days
Lawmakers generally only fight to protect the things they care about – and all too often, that just doesn’t include the lives of most of their constituents.
