DOJ AND THE NSA….A few months ago the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility tried to start up an internal investigation of the NSA’s domestic spying program, but they were denied the security clearances necessary to look into it. How come?
“It was highly classified, very important and many other lawyers had access. Why not OPR?” asked [Arlen] Specter, R-Pa.
“The president of the United States makes the decision,” Gonzales told the committee hearing, during which he was strongly criticized on a range of national security issues.
So it was a personal decision by Bush to quash the investigation. Even with longtime friend Alberto Gonzales in charge, Bush apparently didn’t trust his own Department of Justice to investigate this program. One can only assume that he felt, with good reason, that there was a strong chance they’d conclude it was illegal.
Or, rather, I suppose it’s more accurate to say that David Addington probably felt that way, and that therefore Dick Cheney also felt that way. And that was the end of the story.
