Yes, vice presidents have the right to declassify documents

Several VERIFY readers asked if the VP could declassify the documents. They can, here’s why.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to investigate classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware and an office in Washington, DC. The documents date back to when Biden was vice president.

It prompted comparisons to the discovery of hundreds of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump said documents found at his Florida estate “are all declassified.”

While Biden didn’t claim to have declassified documents found in his home and office, that hasn’t stopped some people on social media from claiming that the vice president “does not have the authority” to declassify the documents—implying that Trump’s defense does not extend to Biden.

Several VERIFY readers asked the team if the VP could declassify the documents.

QUESTION

Can the vice president declassify documents?

SOURCES

ANSWER

Yes, the vice president can declassify documents.

WHAT WE FOUND

Claims that vice presidents can’t declassify documents while they’re in office are “zero truth,” Kel McClanahan, executive director of national security advisers, told VERIFY.

Richard Immerman, historian and professor at Temple University, agrees. Biden had the opportunity to declassify the documents when he was a vice president in the Obama administration, he said in an email.

The vice president’s declassification authority stems from Executive Order 13526, which former President Barack Obama issued in 2009 when Biden was vice president. This order specifies who is allowed to classify and declassify information.

It states that “powers to classify information may initially only be exercised by the president and vice president” and “heads of departments and officials appointed by the president.”

There are four categories of persons who may declassify a document under an order: the official who originally classified it, their successor, the official supervising the originator or successor, or officials authorized to declassify in writing by the head of the department.

In the executive order, “the vice president is expressly named as one of the original classification bodies,” meaning they can declassify any information originally classified by their office, McClanahan explained.

But what about documents that were originally classified by other departments or agencies? While some experts disagree on whether vice presidents are considered oversight bodies, McClanahan said the vice president has the same broad powers to declassify documents as the president.

“From an academic constitutional law point of view, the question may arise as to whether the vice president is in the chain of command that can declassify things,” McClanahan said. “However, in practice, for at least the last ten years, if not much longer, it has been a longstanding practice in the executive branch to say that the vice president delegated authority from the president and should be treated pretty much the same. .”

There are other exceptions to what the President or Vice President may declassify, including information relating to nuclear secrets. This information is governed by a separate law called the Atomic Energy Law.

According to McClanahan, the president can also expressly forbid the vice president from declassifying certain information.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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