White House Blocked Spy Program Probe

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2006 — -- The Justice Department's internal investigative arm repeatedly tried to get security clearances for investigators to examine the role Justice Department lawyers played in the National Security Administration eavesdropping program -- but was ultimately blocked by the White House from conducting the internal review, according to documents and testimony presented today at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

A series of memos between the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), and senior Justice Department officials shows the difficulty OPR staff had in trying to get the security clearances they needed to properly review the program, known as the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP). Attorney General Alberto Gonzales revealed the issue today before an oversight hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"As with all decisions that are non-operation in terms of who has access to the program, the President of the United States makes the decision," Gonzales told the committee.

A letter sent Monday to Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., from Assistant Attorney General William Moschella notes, "decisions to provide access to classified information about the TSP for non-operation purposes are made by the President of the United States... every security clearance that is granted for the TSP increases the risk that national security may be compromised."

Revelations about the NSA program in the New York Times last year sparked controversy because the program, which is intended to intercept conversations of suspected al Qaeda members, allowed U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials to eavesdrop on U.S. residents without a warrant or judicial notification. Terrorism wiretaps of U.S. citizens have traditionally been approved by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court located at the Justice Department.

In a memo dated Jan. 20, 2006, the head of OPR, H. Marshall Jarrett, wrote to officials at the top levels of the Justice Department asking that seven employees in his office be granted security clearances as part of their investigation into "the role of Department attorneys in the authorization and oversight of warrantless electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency... in compliance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."