[Infowarrior] - Justice Department eyes spy program

[Richard Forno]

Justice Department eyes spy program
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061128/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/domestic_spying

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer 22 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has begun an internal investigation into
its handling of information gathered in the government's domestic spying
program. However, Democrats criticized the review as too narrow to determine
whether the program violated federal law.

The inquiry by Glenn A. Fine, the department's inspector general, will focus
on the role of Justice prosecutors and agents in carrying out the
warrantless surveillance program run by the National Security Agency.

Fine's investigation is not expected to address whether the controversial
program is an unconstitutional expansion of presidential power, as its
critics and a federal judge in Detroit have charged.

"After conducting initial inquiries into the program, we have decided to
open a program review that will examine the department's controls and use of
information related to the program," Fine wrote in a letter dated Monday to
House Judiciary Committee leaders. The four-paragraph letter was obtained by
The Associated Press.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the agency welcomes the
review: "We expect that this review will assist Justice Department personnel
in ensuring that the department's activities comply with the legal
requirements that govern the operation of the program."

In January, Fine's office rejected a request by more than three dozen
Democrats to investigate the secret program, which monitors phone calls and
e-mails between people in the U.S. and abroad when a link to terrorism is
suspected.

Fine's letter outlining his review was welcomed by congressional Democrats.
At the same time, they said it falls short of examining issues at the heart
of the debate ‹ how the spying program evolved, and whether its creation
violated any laws.

"A full investigation into the program as a whole, not just the DOJ's
involvement, will be necessary," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (news, bio, voting
record), D-Calif.

The review could include whether the spying program complies with the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires judicial authorization
for electronic surveillance and physical searches of people suspected of
espionage or international terrorism on behalf of a foreign power. The
Justice Department requests surveillance approval from the FISA court.

Democrats also questioned the timing of the review. Fine's letter noted that
his office asked the White House on Oct. 20 for additional security
clearances that were approved just last week ‹ following the Nov. 7
elections that gave Democrats control of Congress.

Noting Democrats' renewed power to subpoena Bush administration officials
next year, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y.,
questioned that Fine's investigation "is only coming now after the election
as an attempt to appease Democrats" who have been critical of the NSA
program.

The letter was sent to House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.,
and the panel's top Democrat and incoming chairman, Rep. John Conyers (news,
bio, voting record), D-Mich. Sensenbrenner had no comment. Conyers called
the review "a long overdue investigation of a highly controversial program."

The Justice Department has called the program a necessary tool in the fight
against terrorism, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pushing
congressional Republicans to authorize it by law before they cede power at
the year's end ‹ a prospect with at best a slim shot of approval.

Former Reagan administration national security official Robert F. Turner,
now associate director at the Center for National Security Law at the
University of Virginia, said congressional demands for sensitive information
about the program puts them at odds with long-standing presidential powers
over the collection of foreign intelligence.

"It's good that the executive branch, on its own, is making sure that
someone's not abusing this power," Turner said. "But when Congress usurps
power vested in the president by the people through the Constitution, then
it becomes the lawbreaker."

Countering, Caroline Fredrickson, the director of the ACLU's office in
Washington, urged Fine "to seek the hidden truth about this program. ... No
one, not even the president, is above the law."

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On the Net:

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov/