Security Issue Kills Domestic Spying Probe (Justice Dept denied clearance)

[ProSense]

Security Issue Kills Domestic Spying Probe

Security Issue Kills Domestic Spying Inquiry: NSA Wouldn't Give Justice Dept. Clearance
By DEVLIN BARRETT
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - 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, 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.

more...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1947685&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[babylonsister]

1. Talk about a Catch-22! I hope someone can get around this

nonsense. :mad:

[Jack Rabbit]

2. I smell the White House

They can't investigate because the lawyers don't have the proper clearance. Can they find lawyers with the proper clearance? Who are willing to investigate?

Why doesn't Bush just wave his magic wand and declassify everything like he did for Scooter and Karl? We don't have to tell anybody but the lawyers the documents are declassified. After all, Bush didn't tell too many people besides Scooter and Karl that parts of the NIE had been declassified.

[ProSense]

3. Hayden may favor spying law changes

Hayden may favor spying law changes

By David Morgan and Andy Sullivan
2 hours, 15 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, President George W. Bush's nominee for CIA director and architect of his domestic spying program, appears to favor changes in the law to allow judicial oversight of the program, a Democratic lawmaker and his staff said on Wednesday.

Sen. Richard Durbin (news, bio, voting record), an Illinois Democrat, said Hayden told him in a private meeting he was concerned when he set up the highly secretive program that approaching Congress could reveal tactics, techniques and procedures used by U.S. intelligence to track al Qaeda suspects.

"He said, however, that with all the publicity that's been surrounding this program, he may be closer to the possibility of asking for a change," Durbin, the Democratic whip, told reporters after meeting with Hayden for 35 minutes.

"I hope they do and I think they're going to find bipartisan cooperation. I want to find a way to make it legal for us to be safe as a nation."

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060510/pl_nm/security_hayden_dc_3

[Betsy Ross]

4. K&R

:kick:

[stillcool]

5. wow..so much for the rule of law....

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.

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.

On the Net:

Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility: http://www.usdoj.gov/opr/index.html

National Security Agency: http://www.nsa.gov/home html.cfm

[stillcool]

6. .......

:kick:

[leesa]

7. Well, how very convenient! And our worthless Dems are trusting the

administration to make Hayden's confirmation all about NSA spying.

[Oilwellian]

8. How convenient

The NSA can shut down an investigation of it's own improprieties. We're screwed.