Ashcroft Defends DOJ's Post-9/11 Policies

July 17, 2008— -- Former Attorney General John Ashcroft told lawmakers Thursday that he fully embraced pushing forward an aggressive counterterrorism policy during his tenure, but that overturning some initial Justice Department legal guidance was necessary after later review.

"The administration's overriding goal, which I fully embraced, was to do everything within its power and within the limits of the law — I repeat within the limits of the law — to keep this country safe from terrorist attack," he told the House Judiciary Committee.

Ashcroft said that's why he initially approved now-controversial legal guidance on interrogation put forth by former DOJ Office of Legal Counsel official John Yoo in an August 2002 memo.

"I was made aware that a legal opinion relating to interrogation of al Qaeda detainees was being prepared by OLC [the Office of Legal Counsel]," Ashcroft said. "I was briefed on the general contours of the opinion's substantive analysis and on its conclusions, and that approved of its issuance."

Ashcroft testified that later, once DOJ's Jack Goldsmith became the head of the office of Legal Counsel, Justice Department officials expressed concerns to him about alleged flaws in Yoo's analysis and how closely Yoo was aligned with the White House.

"It became apparent in the further examination of those opinions, when made in another timeframe, that there were matters of concerns that were brought to my opinion. It was not a hard decision for me," Ashcroft said.

"Any time the department can improve what we can, we owe it to the president and we owe it to ourselves," he added.

Ashcroft fully defended the tactics he authorized and supported in the weeks and years after the 9/11 attacks, telling the committee that he didn't support torture because it is illegal and "the outcome of a product of torture doesn't justify it."