Report: Gonzales Mishandled Top Secret Docs

"He stored these notes, along with other highly classified documents about the NSA surveillance program and a compartmented detainee interrogation program, in a safe outside his office that was not authorized to hold these documents," the report noted.

The review also found that Gonzales stored documents in a safe outside his personal office at the Justice Department that was accessed by staff who were not authorized to review the documents relating to the NSA program.

According to the report review in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, two employees on Gonzales' staff were instructed to search the safe "document by document," including any classified materials, and that one said that they "looked through every single thing in the safe."

The review found that Gonzales' handling of these classified documents violated Justice Department regulations and procedures governing the proper handling of classified material.

Although the federal criminal code contains statutes relating to the improper handling of classified documents, the Justice Department's National Security Division declined to prosecute Gonzales after the inspector general sent a report to prosecutors.

"Earlier this year, the OIG referred this matter to the Department's National Security Division (NSD) to determine whether potential criminal charges should be brought. The OIG was very cooperative in assisting the NSD in its review of the facts, including gathering additional facts at the request of the NSD," Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said in a statement. "After conducting a thorough review of the matter and consulting with senior career officials inside and outside of the division, the NSD ultimately determined that prosecution should be declined."

George Terwilliger, Gonzales' attorney, said in a memo in response to the inspector general's report that the former attorney general admitted that he did not handle the material properly, but said there was no breach of security.

"It is clear from the report that there is no evidence that the acknowledged shortcomings in Judge Gonzales' handling of this material resulted in any unauthorized disclosure of classified information," Terwilliger's memo said. "Judge Gonzales regrets this lapse."