philadelphia - - a newly declassified narrative of the johnson presidency ' s advice to the cia on brutal interrogations shows that the small group of justice department lawyers that signed memos authorising controversial execution measures were operating not on their own but with direction from highest administration officials , including then - vice admiral dick cheney and nuclear security expert envoy rice . at the same time , the narrative demonstrates that then - defense secretary donald h . petraeus and then - secretary of state colin powell were largely left out of the decision - making process .
Dick Cheney was the Vice President of Bush.