from AP, via Time:
New Allegation Against GonzalesMonday, Sep. 01, 2008 By AP/LARA JAKES JORDAN
(WASHINGTON) — Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales mishandled highly classified notes about a secret counterterror program, but not on purpose, according to a memo by his legal team.
The memo, obtained by The Associated Press, acknowledges that Gonzales improperly stored notes about the program and might have taken them home at one point.
Removing secret documents from specially secured rooms violates government policy.
Gonzales' lawyers wrote in their memo that there is no evidence the security breach resulted in secret information being viewed or otherwise exposed to anyone who was not authorized.
The classified notes focus on a March 2004 meeting with congressional leaders about a national security program that was about to expire. Efforts to renew the program sparked an intense Bush administration debate that played out at the hospital bedside of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The memo was prepared by Gonzales' legal team as a response to a report being finalized by the Justice Department's inspector general. The report, which could be released as early as Tuesday, is expected to criticize Gonzales' handling of sensitive compartmentalized information, or SCI, according to the memo. ......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837872,00.html