>I am aware of what Libby was indicted for. And i am aware that the prosecution said that because of Libby's actions of perjury, he could not continue his investigation. I agree with you about the president being able to declassify. But i would have to think there is a policy on how that is done. And the timing of the release of that information is always important, and in this case timing appears to be an issue.
>
>>The answer to Alterman's question is yes. The president is legally entitled to declassify any information he chooses.
>
>That wasnt the point of Alterman's statement. It was:
>
>Is a President, on the eve of his reelection campaign, legally entitled to ward off political embarrassment and conceal past failures in the exercise of his office by unilaterally and informally declassifying selected — as well as false and misleading — portions of a classified National Intelligence Estimate that he has previously refused to declassify, in order to cause such information to be secretly disclosed under false pretenses in the name of a "former Hill staffer" to a single reporter, intending that reporter to publish such false and misleading information in a prominent national newspaper?"
>
>Defending that position reveals a lot about a person.

I do not need to defend that. Executive Order 13292 does not put any limits on the President's authority to declassify information. I am not a lawyer so maybe someone can point out where that authority is limited and I'll be happy to read it. As far as I know the powers of the executive branch in this regard are not limited, so the answer to Alterman's question remains, yes.

>
>>>You are starting to sound Clinton-esque with a "meaning of IS" defense/apology. Again, from the indictment: her employment status was classified. And Libby knew something was wrong in discussing the info: Libby responded that there would be complications at the CIA in disclosing that information publicly, and that he could not discuss the matter on a non-secure telephone line.
>>
>>I am not defending Libby. I am stating facts and you are going into conjecture. Since you are not one of the principals involved I will go with their assessments. Libby has not been indicted for outing a CIA operative because there was no crime and Fitzgerald knows it. If there was a crime he would've brought charges.
>>
>>>
>>>And McClellen told us way back in a press conference that the document was declassified "just today", that day happened to be 10 days after Libby talked to Miller. The "declassification" of the info consisted of having Libby tell Miller, and not sharing it with the press corp, nor with any media outlets. I'm not aware of any dissenting opinions in the document having been "shared" with the press. I recall that the info "shared" w/ Judy was already debunked. Powell had made a public statement about the same time as the leaking was going on, so Judy didnt get to run her piece.
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>>See above. A federal prosecutor spent 2 years looking into this and found no crime.
>>
>>>
>>>This (from Eric Alterman) really sums up what you're defending:
>>>
>>>"Is a President, on the eve of his reelection campaign, legally entitled to ward off political embarrassment and conceal past failures in the exercise of his office by unilaterally and informally declassifying selected — as well as false and misleading — portions of a classified National Intelligence Estimate that he has previously refused to declassify, in order to cause such information to be secretly disclosed under false pretenses in the name of a "former Hill staffer" to a single reporter, intending that reporter to publish such false and misleading information in a prominent national newspaper?"
>>
>>Legally the circumstances surrounding the declassification of information are irrelevent.
>>
>>Declassification authority is defined in Section 6.1(l) of E.O. 13292.
>>It is granted to: "(1) the official who authorized the original
>>classification...; (2) the originator's current successor in function;
>>(3) a supervisory official of either; or (4) officials delegated
>>declassification authority in writing by the agency head or the senior
>>agency official."
>>
>>The answer to Alterman's question is yes.
>>The president is legally entitled to declassify any information he chooses.