I just received this press release from Representative Maurice Hinchey's office. Hinchey has introduced Resolution of Inquiry demanding that the Bush Administration reveal who blocked the Department of Justice probe into NSA warrantless surveillance on American citizens. Also Murray Waas and Shane Harris just published an article on the latest revelations of this administration's continuing attempts to cover-up a proper investigation of this apparent infringement on basic constitutional liberties.
Measure Would Require President, Attorney General & Defense Secretary
To Hand Over Documents Related To Closure Of Investigation
Washington, DC -- In an effort to find out who blocked an internal U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation of the agency's role in the National Security Agency (NSA) warrantless surveillance program and the reasons for doing so, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today introduced a resolution of inquiry in the House that would force top members of the Bush administration to turn over all materials related to the termination of the probe.
Representative Hinchey's Press Release Continued
In January, Hinchey and three of his House colleagues requested that DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) conduct the investigation. OPR Counsel H. Marshall Jarrett informed Hinchey in February that a probe was underway, but on May 10 he wrote the congressman to say that the investigation had been closed because OPR was denied the necessary security clearances.
According to a National Journal article published online today, all of the information that OPR was seeking was already in DOJ's possession and did not involve any top secret data. However, OPR was still blocked from conducting its investigation. Top administration officials have refused to explain who denied the security clearances for OPR investigators that effectively closed the probe and have also failed to offer a substantive justification for shutting down the investigation. Since the administration has not been forthcoming, Hinchey introduced his resolution to require President Bush, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to turn over to Congress all documents, including telephone and electronic mail records, logs and calendars, personnel records, and records of internal discussions related to the termination of OPR's investigation.
Office Of Professional Responsibility's Purpose Requires That It Have Access To Classified Documents
This denial of access reminds me of the Saturday Night Massacre During the Nixon adminstrations cover-up and attempts to stonewall the Watergate investigations. And in a similar way and for the same reasons is an unacceptable infringement on the Legislative branch's Constitutionally required oversight of the Executive branch.
This denial creates a constitutional crisis in my opinion. The Congress must now press forward to maintain the precident of its right to the information it needs to fullfill it's duty.
"The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is designed to ensure that the highest ethical standards are met by those who enforce our laws. For administration officials to deny OPR officials security clearances needed to do their job and conduct the proper oversight is absurd and is contradictory to what the American people expect and deserve from their government," Hinchey said. "The Bush administration cannot get away with designing a secret, illegal spy program and then shutting down an investigation into its creation and implementation. Since the Attorney General and others have refused to be forthcoming in a genuine way on their own, this resolution of inquiry will force them to pull back the curtain of secrecy and reveal who stopped the OPR investigation and why."
Among other things, Hinchey and his colleagues -- Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) -- specifically requested an investigation to find out: who within the DOJ first authorized the domestic surveillance program and what that official's justification was for doing so; if the Bush administration had already enacted the program before getting original DOJ approval; what the reauthorization process for the surveillance initiative entails; and why, according to news reports, did then-Acting Attorney General James Comey refuse to reauthorize the program and why then-Attorney General John Ashcroft expressed strong reservations about the program and may have rejected it as well.
"Administration officials can't just go around and say that disclosing information about the evolution and execution of the NSA program would jeopardize national security because it wouldn't," Hinchey said. "We are not requesting transcripts of tapped phone calls or asking for any specific information gathered from the program. We just want to know how the administration came to develop a surveillance program that ignores the fact that this country has a Constitution."
The Hinchey measure to acquire the documents surrounding the termination of the OPR investigation is a resolution of inquiry, which is a type of bill that seeks factual information from the executive branch. A House committee must debate the Hinchey measure or else the matter can be brought directly before the full House. If the full House adopts the measure, President Bush, Attorney General Gonzales, and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld would have 14 days to present Congress with all of the requested documents.
Hinchey has also written back to OPR Counsel Jarrett in an attempt to find out what individuals and agencies refused to grant the security clearances needed for the program.
Contact information for Representative Hinchey's office are:
Jeff Lieberson
Communications Director
Office of Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY22)
202-225-6335 (office)
202-225-1265 (direct)
202-225-0817 (cell)
jeff.lieberson@mail.house.gov
Here's the communication I received today from Hinchey's office.
HoundDog
,
You can view the series of letters between Hinchey and DOJ's OPR Counsel Jarrett by clicking on the following links:
http://www.house.gov/...
http://www.house.gov/...
http://www.house.gov/...
http://www.house.gov/...
The resolution of inquiry that Hinchey introduced in the House today can be viewed here: http://www.house.gov/...
Thanks,
Jeff
Shane Harris and Murray Waas, of the National Journal report today on Justice Department Probe Foiled
An internal Justice Department inquiry into whether department officials -- including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft -- acted properly in approving and overseeing the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program was stymied because investigators were denied security clearances to do their work. The investigators, however, were only seeking information and documents relating to the National Security Agency's surveillance program that were already in the Justice Department's possession, two senior government officials said in interviews.
The only classified information that OPR investigators were seeking about the NSA's eavesdropping program was what had already been given to Ashcroft, Gonzales and other department attorneys in their original approval and advice on the program, the two senior government officials said. And, by nature, OPR's request was limited to documents such as internal Justice Department communications and legal opinions, and didn't extend to secrets that are the sole domain of other agencies, the two officials said.
This makes clear that the justification for denying Congressional investigators a security clearance to conduct their constitutionally required oversight function are totally invalid. This is an outrage that the American people and congress should not accept.
Waas and Harris Report On Actions By Hinchey, Lewis, and Waxman
Once again Hinchey, Lewis, and Waxman have the courage and persistence to stand up to the Bush Administration's stonewalling. If any Congressional Representative have earned their paycheck this year it is these three who have filed more Resolutions of Inquiry than any other I am aware of.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and three other Democrats -- John Lewis of Georgia, Henry Waxman of California, and Lynn Woolsey of California -- requested the OPR investigation after the surveillance program was revealed in late 2005, and asked the agency to determine whether it complied with existing law. OPR investigates "allegations of misconduct involving department attorneys that relate to the exercise of their authority to investigate, litigate, or provide legal advice," according to the office's policies and procedures.
Jarrett again wrote [PDF] to Hinchey: "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. Beginning in January 2006, this office made a series of requests for the necessary clearances. On May 9, 2006, we were informed that our requests had been denied. Without these clearances, we cannot investigate this matter and therefore have closed our investigation."
Michael Shaheen, who headed the OPR from its inception until 1997, said that his staff "never, ever was denied a clearance," and that OPR had conducted numerous investigations involving the activities of attorneys general. "No attorney general has ever said no to me," Shaheen said. He added that, over the past several years, the OPR's muscle has degraded, in part because it was stripped of its authority to pursue criminal investigations. But under the Bush administration, the weakening has been especially pronounced, Shaheen said. "I just think that the White House has so frightened everybody.... If I were still at OPR and was told I couldn't have security clearances, the first word out of my mouth ... would have been, 'Balderdash!' "
Once Again Representative Hinchey Takes The Lead
In an interview, Hinchey argued that Gonzales and other Bush administration officials have an obligation to cooperate in every manner possible with any OPR investigation: "The Justice Department has an Office of Professional Responsibility to assure that the highest ethical standards are met by those who enforce our laws. That's why we have Jarrett.... The idea that they are not going to give him the necessary security clearances to do his job and the proper oversight is absurd."
Regarding Gonzales, Hinchey said: "The attorney general has said that he does not have to allow an investigation to go forward because he has talked about the legal underpinnings of the NSA program. He has not done that because it does not have any. It is devoid of any legal underpinnings."
Hinchey has drafted a resolution of inquiry requesting that Bush, Gonzales, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld turn over documents relating to the OPR investigation's closure and the denial of security clearances. The resolution asks for "telephone and electronic-mail records, logs and calendars, personnel records, and records of internal discussions." Hinchey said he planned to get other members of Congress to sign on to the resolution this week.
I call on all DailyKos readers to rally to the support of Maurice HInchey's resolution of inquiry concerning the outrageous action on the part of the Attorney General. This is reminiscent of the Saturday Night Massacre during Congressional investigations leading to Nixon's impeachment and resignation. The Executive Branch cannot deny the Legislative branch's legitimate requests for information necessary to fulfill it's Constitutionally required oversight function.
Please send your thanks and encouragement to Representative Maurice Hinchey here:
jeff.lieberson@mail.house.gov
or
Hinchey For Congress Website