Warrantless Wiretapping Investigation Closed

Via a press release from NY Congressman Maurice Hinchey:

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) told Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today that it has closed its investigation of the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program because OPR was denied the security clearances needed to conduct a probe. Hinchey and three of his House colleagues wrote a letter to OPR Counsel H. Marshall Jarrett in January, requesting that he probe the agency's involvement with the creation of the secret NSA program. Jarrett responded in February to say that an investigation was underway.

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Among other things, Hinchey and his colleagues -- Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) -- specifically requested an investigation to find out: who within the DOJ first authorized the domestic surveillance program and what that official's justification was for doing so; if the Bush administration had already enacted the program before getting original DOJ approval; what the reauthorization process for the surveillance initiative entails; and why, according to news reports, did the then-Acting Attorney General refuse to reauthorize the program and why the Attorney General expressed strong reservations about the program and may have rejected it as well.

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However, in a letter to Hinchey from Jarrett sent today, the OPR Counsel said the probe was closed yesterday. In his letter to Hinchey, Jarrett stated, "I am writing to inform you that we have been unable to make any meaningful progress in our investigation because OPR has been denied security clearances for access to information about the NSA program. Beginning in January 2006, this Office made a series of requests for the necessary clearances. On May 9, 2006, we were informed that our requests had been denied. Without these clearances, we cannot investigate this matter and therefore have closed our investigation."

To simplify: The Bush Administration, not wanting an investigation of the actions of the Justice Department, refused to give security clearances to the investagating authorities - causing the investagation to end. Fun.

Maurice Hinchey Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility George W. Bush