OUTRAGEOUS STONEWALLING
Security issue kills domestic spying inquiry

From the AP via MSNBC courtesy of the Daily Kos:

The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance to probe the matter.

The inquiry headed by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, sent a fax to Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., on Wednesday saying they were closing their inquiry because without clearance their lawyers cannot examine Justice lawyers’ role in the program.

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Just in case it's not obvious, and it should be, I'll spell out exactly why this is outrageous. What we have here is one White House agency, the NSA, refusing to allow another White House agency, the Department of Justice, to investigate the former because the latter lacks security clearance: this could be cleared up in like five seconds by, surprise surprise, the White House. In other words, this is some major fucking bullshit. Bush could very easily give these investigators the security clearance needed to do the job--I mean, it's not like DOJ employees who already have had major background checks are going to divulge NSA secrets to Al-Qaeda. This is a big joke. He really does think he's above the law.

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