In 2004, the Office of the Vice President blocked inspectors from the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) of the National Archives from conducting an on-site inspection of the VP's White House office, although the ISOO was required to do under Executive Order 12958, signed by President Bush.
In explaining why they were blocking these inspectors, the Vice President's office, according to Henry Waxman, "asserted that the Office of the Vice President is not an 'entity within the executive branch' and hence is not subject to presidential executive orders."
Via Atrios.
It gets better:
In January 2007, the Information Security Oversight Office took the appropriate step under the executive order and asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resolve whether the President’s order applies to your office. According to the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office, you responded to this request by recommending that the executive order be amended to abolish the Information Security Oversight Office.
I would think Henry Waxman's letter about this today to Vice President Cheney would be in the public domain, but just to be sure, I'll only quote a little more. You should read it yourself, it's pretty brutal in places.
Your office may have the worst record in the executive branch for safeguarding classified information. As Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald established, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, your former Chief of Staff, leaked the identity of a covert CIA operative to several reporters in June 2003. Mr. Libby was convicted in March of perjury, obstruction of justice, and false statements for lying to a grand jury and to FBI agents in order to conceal his role in the leaking of this information.
The prosecution of Mr. Libby also revealed that you apparently misused the declassification process for political reasons. In July 2003, you reportedly instructed Mr. Libby to leak to the media portions of an October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein’s purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Your selective declassification of this information was apparently made outside the formal declassification process and done as part of a damage-control effort you undertook to defend the Administration’s rationale for going to war in Iraq.
In a separate incident, Leandro Aragoncillo, a former aide in your office, pleaded guilty in May 2006 to passing classified information to plotters allegedly trying to overthrow Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Mr. Aragoncillo reportedly disclosed numerous secret and top secret documents to Philippine officials over several years while working in your office.
Update: All related documents are available at Waxman's site.
Froomkin's on this.
ABC News... at least their blog... has it.
Bonus Quote (hat tip to DBunn):
(3) Is it the official position of the Office of the Vice President that your office exists in neither the executive nor legislative branch of government?
a. If so, when and why did you adopt this view?
b. Has your office asserted in any other contexts that its nonexistence in the executive branch justifies avoiding oversight or accountability?
Rahm Emanuel has released this statement and chart of the now four branches of government:
"Today, we discovered that everything we learned in U.S. government class was wrong. Evidently, the Vice President does not consider himself a part of the executive branch, and therefore believes he can obstruct meaningful oversight and avoid being held accountable. If the Vice President truly believes he is not a part of the executive branch, he should return the salary the American taxpayers have been paying him since January 2001, and move out of the home for which they are footing the bill."
Here's the ISOO Home Page.
Here's the Federal Times's story.
Here's McClatchy.
Here's the mainline WaPo.
And, of course, Keith Olbermann did a masterful job (video via Crooks and Liars):
"... there remains only one possible alternative: Vice President Dick Cheney is a rogue nation.
Despite the recent capture of his top lieutenant, Mr. Cheney continues to defy the rule of law, attempting to destroy ISOO -- an office of the U.S. government, after all -- and barring inspections in true Saddam style.
Leaving only one possible remedy: Invade him, in order to establish a Free and Democratic Dick Cheney."
(Keith's guest, Newsweek's Richard Wolffe: "This is a very rocky path and, frankly, if it's Constitutional, then I'm a banana."
Associated Press (via Fox)
Cox Newspapers
New York Times