Bush's only defense
I think most would concede that a President has and should have the authority to selectively declassify national security secrets if doing so is necessary to protect national security.
What Bush did was selectively delassify national security secrets in order to protect himself against a political scandal.
Therefore, Bush's only defense is to argue that his political security is equivalent to the national security of the United states.
That kind of argument hasn't been made since the time of kings and emperors.
posted by Chris Andersen at 9:44 AM
4 Comments:
Whether most agree or not, the President has the authority to declassify whatever he sees fit to declassify. It's a similar authority that grants the President the ability to pardon whomever he wishes regardless of public opinion. Both actions may upset us but there's nothing wrong with him exercising his constitutional authority.
... there's nothing wrong with him exercising his constitutional authority.
Just because he has the authority to do something does not mean that any actual implementation of that authority is, by definition, okay.
Is the President's authority innerrant? Does he have authority that, by definition, can never be wrong?
I would certainly hope that you are not arguing that Bush is incapable of abusing his constitutional authority.
I'm saying that you can wring your hands over it all you like but there are no constitutional limits to what he can or cannot declassify. Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with declassifying information to show the public reasons he advocated war.
"Is the President's authority innerrant?"
Since he has a messianic complex, I believe that answer, at least to him, is yes.
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