Even in the face of Cheney's office's involvement in the leaking of information related to national security, such as the Valerie Plame incident, vice president Cheney has exempted his office from complying with a presidential order that sets out procedures for the safe handling of national security information.

This has drawn the ire of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, whose Chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, has written a letter to Cheney calling into question the legality of the Vice President's actions.

The issue was brought to the committee's attention by the body within the National Archive responsible for the types of documents in question. After protests from the National Archive, the vice president actually threatened to have the department abolished.

Further Reading:

Oversight Committee on the Vice President and Classified Information

reprinted by permission from apathy.net