One question: to which higher authority in the Executive Branch does President Trump request permission to declassify documents?
Exactly. Notifying others as part of declasifying doesn’t mean he cannot declassify something if processes weren’t 100% followed. Its not asking permission, its notifying.
EXACTLY
There is no higher authority. The President could declassify EVERYTHING and the different agencies would have to go through extraordinary methods to keep some things classified, mainly sources and methods.
The President is the OCA, original classification authority for everything. All else is derivative classification authority.
None.