http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/washington/14justice.html?n=Top/Reference/ Times%20Topics/People/S/Shane,%20Scott
November 14, 2007 Bush Approves Clearances for N.S.A. Inquiry By <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/scott_shane/in dex.html?inline=nyt-per> SCOTT SHANE New York Times WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 - Just four days after <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/michael_b_muka sey/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Michael B. Mukasey was sworn in as attorney general, Justice Department officials said Tuesday that President Bush had reversed course and approved long-denied security clearances for the Justice Department's ethics office to investigate the <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/nationa l_security_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org> National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program. The department's inspector general has been investigating the department's involvement with the N.S.A. program for about a year, but the move suggested both that Mr. Mukasey wanted to remedy what many in Congress saw as an improper decision by the president to block the clearances and that the White House chose to back him. Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, and Brian Roehrkasse, a Justice Department spokesman, declined to say whether Mr. Mukasey had pressed Mr. Bush on the clearances for the department's Office of Professional Responsibility. Mr. Mukasey himself had indicated in a written answer to senators on Oct. 30, before his confirmation, that the clearance issue had been resolved. But Democrats said they thought Mr. Mukasey deserved credit. "It seems the new attorney general understands that his responsibility is to the American people and the rule of law and not to any particular person, including the president," said Representative <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/maurice_d_hinc hey/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Maurice D. Hinchey, Democrat of New York, who had first demanded the internal Justice Department investigation. In response to appeals from Mr. Hinchey and other members of Congress, the head of the Office of Professional Responsibility, H. Marshall Jarrett, said in February 2006 that he had opened an investigation of the conduct of department lawyers in approving and overseeing the N.S.A. program. But three months later he said the inquiry had been dropped because his staff had been denied the necessary high-level clearances. The Justice Department later said that <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/alberto_r_gonz ales/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Alberto R. Gonzales, the attorney general at the time, had recommended that the clearances be granted but that Mr. Bush declined to approve them. Mr. Roehrkasse said the Office of Professional Responsibility's investigation "will focus on whether the D.O.J. attorneys who were involved complied with their ethical obligations of providing competent legal advice to their client and of adhering to their duty of candor to the court." Officials said it was unlikely that either of the inquiries would address directly the question of the legality of the N.S.A. program itself : whether eavesdropping on American soil without court warrants violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They said that decision had been left to the courts. Under the program, which began after the Sept. 11 attacks and ended in January, the National Security Agency intercepted without court warrants the international phone calls and e-mail messages of Americans and others in the United States suspected of ties to <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaed a/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Al Qaeda. The Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department initially approved the program in late 2001. But the head of the office, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/jack_l_goldsmi th/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Jack Goldsmith, decided in 2004 that part of the program violated the law and declined to reauthorize it. Mr. Bush agreed to change the program to satisfy the legal objections. . <http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=11648958/grpspId=1705447214/msgI d=48113/stime=1195041039/nc1=3848621/nc2=5028927/nc3=4836037> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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