[Machette]

Well you are right that he has the authority to..

[code:cda6e]"The authority to classify information originally may be exercised only by:
(1) the President and, in the performance of executive duties, the Vice President;
(2) agency heads and officials designated by the President in the Federal Register; and
(3) United States Government officials delegated this authority pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section [which, again, is a section of an order by the President]"[/code:cda6e]

From: http://www.fas.org/sgp/bush/eoamend.html

But, like I said in the above post, since he declassified the document it should be avaliable to the public, it is not however. So basically bush declassified it for a brief moment to build a case for war then immediately classified it again.

Another issue is rising however. According to the White House, when the President authorized Scooter Libby to leak the classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to reporters – sometime before July 8, 2003 — it was declassified. But on July 18, 2003, Scott McClellan was asked when the NIE was declassified. McClellan said, “It was officially declassified today.”

Here are the links to the claims..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00333.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases ... 18-10.html

The white house site is where Mclellan says it was declassified today and the washington post one sometime before july 8th, 2003.

Mclellan was questioned today about this. But he of course dodged it.

http://images1.americanprogress.org/il8 ... 20.240.mov