The Obama administration has turned down former Vice President Dick Cheney’s request for the declassification of two CIA reports on the effectiveness of the Agency’s detainee program, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned. A letter dated May 7, 2009, from the CIA’s Information and Privacy Coordinator, Delores M. Nelson, rejected Cheney’s request because the documents he has requested are involved in a Freedom of Information Act court battle.
“In researching the information in question, we have discovered that it is currently the subject of pending FOIA litigation (Bloche v. Department of Defense, Amnesty International v. Central Intelligence Agency). Therefore, the document is excluded from Mandatory Declassification Review,” Nelson wrote in the letter to the National Archives, the agency responsible for handling Cheney’s request.
This is bad news, but also good – it means that these memos do in fact exist, they are just unfortunately caught up in bureaucratic red tape. This will most likely lead Dick Cheney to continue his offensive against the “truth commission,” the reference of “torture,” and the release of the CIA memos in the first place.
UPDATE:
Former Vice President Dick Cheney will appeal a CIA decision denying his request for the release of memos he’s contended are crucial to proving the success of “enhanced interrogation techniques” of detainees.
Cheney’s office released a two-sentence statement reacting to the denial, “The Obama Administration has denied Vice President Cheney’s request for the declassification of two documents that provide information about the effectiveness of the detainee program. Vice President Cheney is preparing his appeal to this denial.”
Hillary was in a snarky mood yesterday on the Hill. She thought making a zinger at Dick Cheney would be amusing and win her some brownie points. This is the same woman who flip-flopped on the war entirely.
The man of the people, Joe Biden, who would not comment on this matter because he was busy eating at Kate’s Diner in Delaware, which went out of business 20 years ago. Joe Biden has started collecting social security benefits because he meets the age requirements, but he still brings home a nice salary that I’m sure I’ll never see in my lifetime, full benefits, a government pension, and now social security! Remember, because he works for the government, he will receive nearly 100% (the actual amount may be 75%?) of his annual salary for the rest of his life – in other words, he really needs those social security benefits as much as everyone else/sarc.
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. announced last month that Social Security beneficiaries will get one-time $250 stimulus bonus payments beginning in May.
He didn’t mention that he will be one of the recipients.
The annual tax returns for Biden and his wife, Jill, released last week, show he began collecting Social Security benefits in 2008. He became eligible for full benefits in November when he reached age 66.
Social Security beneficiaries will receive their $13 billion share of the $787 billion Obama stimulus package as early as May. Each of more than 50 million Social Security beneficiaries is entitled to $250 under the stimulus measure.
“These folks need the money,” Biden said in announcing the payment schedule. “People are going to be actually spending that money.”
Asked about Biden’s decision to begin collecting benefits, spokeswoman Ann Marie Tomasini issued a brief statement: “Vice President Biden is eligible under the law to collect his full benefits at age 66.”
Biden’s annual Senate salary was $169,300 last year. He will earn $227,300 in 2009 as vice president.
And here is the kicker… Cheney does not collect Social Security! That man is just so evil!
Social Security officials did not have statistics on how many people delay the receipt of Social Security benefits beyond the full eligibility date. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who is a year older than Biden, did not list any Social Security income on his final financial disclosure statement filed a year ago.
According to Biden’s tax returns, he collected $6,534 in Social Security benefits in 2008. Social Security spokeswoman Kia Green said that for 2008, Social Security beneficiaries could earn up to $13,560 without their benefits being taxed. That cap jumps to $14,160 in 2009.
Because Biden’s income exceeded the cap, he paid taxes on all but $980 of his 2008 benefits.
