By Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times
The Justice Department revealed Tuesday that it has reopened an internal investigation into whether department lawyers acted unethically or broke any laws in connection with the government’s warrantless electronic surveillance of terrorism suspects.
The internal probe was suspended last year after President Bush refused to grant security clearances so that investigators could interview Justice officials and others about the National Security Agency program. White House officials said at the time that Bush viewed such clearances as a security risk because they would widen the circle of individuals familiar with the highly classified program.
That reasoning was questioned in some quarters because other department lawyers had been briefed and because the investigating unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility, had never been denied such a clearance in the past.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the White House would have no comment because the matter involved an ongoing investigation.