Reply to Donnie Dumptruck says Mar-A-Lago's been searched by the FBI

Forum Index » Political Discussion

Reply to "Donnie Dumptruck says Mar-A-Lago's been searched by the FBI"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does Trump have the authority to “declassify” anything he wants?[/quote]

If he follows the process of having it properly processed, inventoried, reviewed, cleared and remarked per IC, NARA etc then yes.

But if the question is can he at any time wave a magic wand over a box of documents and declare it declassified, then the answer is absolutely not.[/quote]

The idea that a bunch of bean counters get to usurp presidential powers is absurd. How do you stop said bean counters from simply not following through deliberately? [/quote]

Said bean counters are staffers with clearance. They are there to make the Executive Branch function as a TEAM, and they provide guardrails. The President is not a monarch, and doesn't get to do things unilaterally just because he or she says so! [/quote]

This is just inaccurate. Not only the president, but also many political appointees and some senior SESs have unilateral authority to declassify. There are boundaries around that authority and the use of it can be challenged.  But no, presidents dont have to ask a GS-9 for review and approval.  [/quote]

Nobody is suggesting the President (or anyone else with declassification authority) needs to get approval from a GS-9. That is just a red herring.  But the way I have seen it work is that someone will say something needs to be declassified.  Some GS-9 will have to write up the paperwork to get the Principal to sign off to actually declassify.  As part of the paperwork preparation, s/he has to solicit the opinions of other offices with equities.  Some might recommend against declassifying.  The Principal looks through the objections (and those who think it’s a good idea) and signs off on the declassification documents if that is their decision.  The recommendation to declassify can come from the declassification authority themselves or from anyone else who has access to those documents.  What you don’t get to say is “that should be declassified” and not provide a paper trail so the whole government knows it’s declassified.   [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics