If you actually tried to think about this, you'd see how illogical your position is. What process does the POTUS have to follow to declassify documents and who enacted that process?
You mean besides using his mind?
https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2022/10/fact-check-presidential-authority/The system of classifying national security documents is largely a bureaucratic process used by the federal government to control how executive branch officials handle information, whose release could cause the country harm. The government has, however, prosecuted cases for both mistaken and deliberate mishandling of information. Under the U.S. Constitution, the president as commander in chief is given broad powers to classify and declassify such information, often through use of executive orders.
Some secrets, such as information related to nuclear weapons, are handled separately under a specific statutory scheme that Congress has adopted under the Atomic Energy Act. Those secrets cannot be automatically declassified by the president alone and require, by law, extensive consultation with executive branch agencies.In all cases, however, a formal procedure is required so governmental agencies know with certainty what has been declassified and decisions memorialized. A federal appeals court in a 2020 Freedom of Information Act case, New York Times v. CIA, underscored that point: “Declassification cannot occur unless designated officials follow specified procedures,” the court said.As the new ABA Legal Fact Check notes, the extent of a president’s legal authority to unilaterally declassify materials — without following formal procedures — has yet to be challenged in court.
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https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/government-classification-and-mar-lago-documentsThe Constitution also provides Congress with significant authority in the area of national security. In areas where the president and Congress share power, Congress may choose to legislate in ways that limit the president’s authority.
For example, because Congress has specified that only the Department of Energy may declassify certain nuclear information, the president has no authority to do so.
Notably,
some of the documents the FBI retrieved from Mar-a-Lago had Formerly Restricted Data classification markings on them. Formerly Restricted Data can include information about the nuclear stockpile size, current and past locations of nuclear weapons, weapons yield information (i.e., how powerful they are), and above- or below-ground test results. Under long-standing interpretations of the Atomic Energy Act, such information may be declassified only by the Departments of Energy and Defense.The rules for declassification are set forth in a presidential executive order and implementing regulations. These rules have the force of law, which means they are binding on all who classify or declassify information. Of course, a president who wishes to alter their terms has a ready means to do so: he can simply revoke or revise the order. In that sense, a president is not truly “bound” by an executive order. While that order remains in force, however, respect for the rule of law suggests that he must abide by it.
The government has taken a different view. During the administration of President George W. Bush, the Department of Justice issued a secret legal memorandum opining that presidents need not adhere to executive orders and that if they do not comply with an executive order, they have simply “waived” or “modified” it through their actions. Moreover, according to the memorandum, the public need not be notified of the waiver/modification. When the gist of the memorandum became public — thanks to the efforts of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) — it came under heavy criticism, but there is no public indication that it has been withdrawn.
One thing the president cannot do, though, is declassify information “by thinking about it” — i.e., without communicating that decision to anyone else. This conclusion follows not from any particular legal requirements but rather from the very essence of what it means to classify or declassify information. As noted above, these are two-step processes: first, an official determines whether the information requires protection, and second, the information is flagged to ensure that the protections are applied or removed. If an official claims to have classified or declassified information after taking the first step but not the second, it’s like a customer saying she ordered food at a restaurant when she has decided what she wants to eat but hasn’t told the waiter.---
But don't worry. The truth will come out in the trial.
