commander-in-chief or leaker-in-chief

Whatever its significance for the Libby case, the latest filing helps to resolve a lingering question that arose last February regarding the Vice President's role in authorizing the disclosure of classified information (Secrecy News, 02/16/06).

It appears that the Vice President did not direct disclosure on his own authority but on that of the President. "Defendant [Libby] testified that the Vice President later advised him that the President had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE.

Defendant testified that he also spoke to David Addington, then Counsel to the Vice President, whom defendant considered to be an expert in national security law, and Mr. Addington opined that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document," the government filing said