The Justice Department's Inspector General is opening a review into the department's involvement in the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, now that the White House has granted clearances to the Inspector General's staff, according to a letter sent to Congress today.
That program, first disclosed by the New York Times last December, was declared unconstutional by a District Court judge in August and is at the center of ongoing litigation against the nation's telecoms for their alleged complicity. The Bush Administration says that the president's wartime powers allow the government to conduct warrantless surveillance of suspected spies and terrorists, regardless of a law requiring wiretaps from a secret court.
Full letter and speculation about the timing of the clearances after the jump...
Glenn Fine, the Justice Department's Inspector General, sent the letter (.pdf) Monday to the House Judiciary Committee, saying that a full review would commence now that his staff was granted clearances. Fine and two supervisors intially looked into the matter and decided further investigation was needed.
Fine asked for the clearances October 20, but the White House did not okay the review until last week. Earlier this year, President Bush personally blocked a similar review by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility by refusing to grant clearances.
Fine may have gotten the clearances due to the change of ownership in Congress, where a refusal to provide clearances might have been taken as an invitation to begin their own investigation, one which would be less likely to be contained and controllable than Fine's.
Update: Michael Hampton predicts what the resulting report will say.
