1 Boring Old Man

Waxman Challenges White House on Security Claim

The Bush administration has asserted, in recent days, that it has properly safeguarded confidential information since taking office. However, information collected by Congressional investigators contradicts the White House claim.

On Friday June 22, White House Spokesperson Dana Perino said that "[t]he president and the vice president are complying with all the rules and regulations regarding the handling of classified material and making sure that it is safeguarded and protected."

Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House of Representatives’ main investigative body, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has been compiling evidence regarding the mismanagement of classified documents by the Bush administration. Waxman has taken sworn testimony from whistle-blowers from within the White House security agencies. The statements of these whistle-blowers "casts doubt on [White House] assertions," Waxman said in a letter to White House Counsel Fred Fielding on Tuesday.

According to White House whistle-blowers, "White House practices have been dangerously inadequate with respect to investigating security violations, taking corrective action following breaches and physically securing classified information," Waxman said in his letter.

Two independent security agencies are tasked with monitoring the White House compliance with rules regarding the control of classified documents and information. They are the White House Security Office (WHSO) which is a part of the Executive Branch, and the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), a division of the National Archives and Records Administration. Both security agencies appear to have been stymied by the Bush administration.

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Whistle-blowers pointed to mismanagement of the WHSO in their statements to Congressional investigators. Former Director James Knodell and Deputy Director Ken Greeson "routinely violated basic security guidelines," by bringing "their Blackberry devices and cell phones into the sensitive compartmented information facility," a high security storage room for secret information. According to the former security officers, Knodell and Greeson also allowed visiting White House personnel to break this rule. The security officers who informed Waxman’s committee of these violations also blamed Knodell and Greeson for causing "extreme frustration and plummeting morale" in the White House Security Office, which lead to the "departure of more than half of the White House security officers within the last year."

The Directors of WHSO also prevented investigations into breaches of security in the White House, according to the whistle-blowers. They told Waxman’s committee that "the practice within the White House Security Office was not to document or investigate violations occurring in the West Wing or to take corrective action." According to Waxman, this policy "appears to be a direct violation" of the executive order regarding the handling of classified information.

One security breach that was never investigated was the leak of CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert status. According to Waxman, in an Oversight Committee hearing in March, Knodell "confirmed that although his office was required to investigate whether classified information had been leaked inappropriately, no investigation of the leak of Ms. Wilson’s identity occurred."

Lawyers for the office of the vice president has made the claim that Vice President Dick Cheney is not a part of the executive branch and thus not subject to inspections and oversight by ISOO. But Cheney’s office filed annual security reports with ISOO regarding the classification and declassification of information in 2001 and 2002. Subsequent reports have not been filed. The leak of CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity appears to have originated in the vice president’s office in 2003, the same year he unilaterally declared his office exempt from outside oversight.

The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO)

The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) is responsible to the President for policy and oversight of the Government-wide security classification system and the National Industrial Security Program. We receive our authority from Executive Orders 12958 "Classified National Security Information" and 12829 "National Industrial Security Program"  as amended.

We are a component of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and receive our policy and program guidance from the National Security Council (NSC).