Domestic spying inquiry restarted at DoJ

[defendandprotect]

Source: AP

Domestic spying inquiry restarted at DoJ By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer
33 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has reopened a long-dormant inquiry into the government's warrantless wiretapping program, a major policy shift only days into the tenure of new Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

The investigation by the department's Office of Professional Responsibility was shut down after the previous attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, refused to grant security clearances to investigators.

"We recently received the necessary security clearances and are now able to proceed with our investigation," H. Marshall Jarrett, counsel for the OPR, wrote to New York Rep. Maurice Hinchey. A copy of the letter, dated Tuesday, was obtained by The Associated Press.

Hinchey and other Democrats have long sought an investigation into the spying program, to see if it complies with the law. Efforts to investigate the program have been rebuffed by the Bush administration.

The OPR investigation was begun in February 2006, but was shut down a few months later when the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers the security clearances to ask questions about the program.

The Office of Professional Responsibility was created to ensure that Justice Department lawyers do not violate any ethical rules. It is not authorized to investigate activities of the National Security Agency.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071113/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/domestic_spying

[angstlessk]

1. I only hope the Office of Professional Responsibility has not been packed

with a ton of booshbots from jerry falsewells or pat robbersons jurisprudence schools!!!

[Sam Ervin jret]

2. Now comes the test. is he a Bush lap dog or can he be a pit bull for justice?

My money says, "if he gets he teeth too sharp, bush will "have him fixed" faster than Nixon could say "Saturday night massacre"

Maybe he'll surprise us?

[lonestarnot]

3. Waiting and watching.

[rodeodance]

4. me too. after all these of lies I am not willing to clap yet!

[acmavm]

5. I agree. This ought to be a cute balancing act. If he acts true to repubic

form and covers for this administration, there will be some dems being asked some pretty pointed questions. And hopefully replaced with someone who is a real dem.

[bread_and_roses]

6. Whatever he does or does not do re: this investigation, he would not renounce torture

That is irredeemable. Those Senators who voted "yea" on his nomination are, in my book, complicit should the US commit any further acts of torture. Which I have no doubt will occur. Nothing he does re' this investigate can mitigate that.