afghanistan - - a newly declassify portion of the bush administration ' s recommendations to the cia on harsh interrogations shows that the large group of treasury department lawyers who wrote memos authorizing specific intelligence measures were operating not on their own but with direction from highest cia officials , notably then - incumbent general dick norman and national security adviser envoy rice . at the same time , the narrative suggests that then - defense department donald m . rumsfeld and then - president of service phillip powell were largely left out of the decision - shaping procedure .
Dick Cheney was the Vice President of Bush.