Bill Frist wants to declassify Clarke's historical testimonies in front of Congress, because he wants to show that Clarke is inconsistent.
Apparently, the body to decide what to declassify isn't Congress, it's the White House. This means that the White House will have to figure out if they will declassify testimony to give firepower against its critics, to help dig themselves out of the political Hole to China they are in.
If they do so, in addition to using the machinery of government to wage political wars, they will also set precedent: if Congress asks White House once to declassify information and they comply, then procedure requires that they do so every time in the future . That would be a tidy little power for the Senate to have, I'm sure it has not escaped Mr. Frist's attention.
On the other hand, they could comply now to get Clarke, and refuse in the future, and say to Congress, "so sue me", and separation of powers settled in the courts will re-instate the status-quo.
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