CHENEY: "VP OFFICE NOT PART OF EXECUTIVE BRANCH"
Vice President Dick Cheney's office has refused to comply with an executive order governing the handling of classified information for the past four years and recently tried to abolish the office that sought to enforce those rules, according to documents released Thursday.
The vice president's office provided the information in 2001 and 2002, then stopped. When the oversight office objected, Cheney's office suggested the oversight office be shut down, according to documents released by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). The oversight office, a unit of the National Archives, appealed the issue to the Justice Department, which has not yet ruled.
Waxman said Cheney's office claims it need not comply with the executive order because it is not an "entity within the executive branch."
