A vice president’s authority to declassify information stems from Executive Order 13526, which former President Barack Obama issued in 2009 when Biden was vice president.

 

There is “zero truth” to the claims that vice presidents cannot declassify documents while they are in office, Kel McClanahan, executive director of the National Security Counselors, told VERIFY.

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

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

It says that “the authority to classify information originally may be exercised only by the President and Vice President,” as well as “agency heads and officials designated by the president.”