[Clips] Security Issue Kills Domestic Spying Probe
R.A. Hettinga
rah at shipwright.com
Thu May 11 09:29:41 PDT 2006
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Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 10:28:16 -0400
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From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
Subject: [Clips] Security Issue Kills Domestic Spying Probe
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<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060511/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/domestic_spying&printer=1;_ylt=AlV5mebdzQ8EIgEYOBt606SWwvIE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE->
Yahoo!
Security Issue Kills Domestic Spying Probe
By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 24 minutes ago
The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless
eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant
Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance to probe the
matter.
The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR,
sent a fax to Rep. Maurice Hinchey (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., on
Wednesday saying they were closing their inquiry because without clearance
their lawyers cannot examine Justice lawyers' role in the program.
"We have been unable to make any meaningful progress in our investigation
because OPR has been denied security clearances for access to information
about the NSA program," OPR counsel H. Marshall Jarrett wrote to Hinchey.
Hinchey's office shared the letter with The Associated Press.
Jarrett wrote that beginning in January, his office has made a series of
requests for the necessary clearances. Those requests were denied Tuesday.
"Without these clearances, we cannot investigate this matter and therefore
have closed our investigation," wrote Jarrett.
Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the terrorist
surveillance program "has been subject to extensive oversight both in the
executive branch and in Congress from the time of its inception."
Roehrkasse noted the OPR's mission is not to investigate possible
wrongdoing in other agencies, but to determine if Justice Department
lawyers violated any ethical rules. He declined to comment when asked if
the end of the inquiry meant the agency believed its lawyers had handled
the wiretapping matter ethically.
Hinchey is one of many House Democrats who have been highly critical of the
domestic eavesdropping program first revealed in December. He said
lawmakers would push to find out who at the NSA denied the Justice
Department lawyers security clearance.
"This administration thinks they can just violate any law they want, and
they've created a culture of fear to try to get away with that. It's up to
us to stand up to them," said Hinchey.
In February, the OPR announced it would examine the conduct of its own
agency's lawyers in the program, though they were not authorized to
investigate NSA activities.
Bush's decision to authorize the largest U.S. spy agency to monitor people
inside the United States, without warrants, generated a host of questions
about the program's legal justification.
The administration has vehemently defended the eavesdropping, saying the
NSA's activities were narrowly targeted to intercept international calls
and e-mails of Americans and others inside the U.S. with suspected ties to
the al-Qaida terror network.
Separately, the Justice Department sought last month to dismiss a federal
lawsuit accusing the telephone company AT&T of colluding with the Bush
administration's warrantless wiretapping program.
The lawsuit, brought by an Internet privacy group, does not name the
government as a defendant, but the Department of Justice has sought to
quash the lawsuit, saying it threatens to expose government and military
secrets.
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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