CIA Says No To Cheney's Request For Memos
An agency's spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, said that the process for declassification is "governed" by a specific Executive Order which does not allow information "pending litigation" to be declassified.
"For that reason—and that reason only—CIA did not accept Mr. Cheney's request for a Mandatory Declassification Review," Gimigliano said. "The Agency simply followed the Executive Order. This request was handled in accordance with normal practice by CIA professionals with long experience in information management and release. It was for them a straightforward issue."
Cheney's office said they would appeal the decision.
The former vice president requested the memos be released on March 31, 2009.
On "Face The Nation" Sunday, Mr. Cheney dared the CIA to release the classified information.
"Release the memos. And we can look and see for yourself what was produced. The memos do exist. I have seen them. I had them in my files at one time… That's what's in those memos," he said.
He said the memos talk "specifically about different attack planning that was under way and how it was stopped. It talks about how the volume of intelligence reports that were produced from that."