It's official: a key U.S. Senate Democrat leader has escalated his committee's ongoing quest for more answers about a once-secret warrantless wiretapping program, issuing subpoenas on Wednesday to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and three other Bush administration officials.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) formally requested an avalanche of documents describing the legal basis for the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program and any other ongoing classified surveillance programs. Besides Gonzales, the senator targeted high-level attorneys at the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney's office and the National Security Council. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which Leahy heads, authorized the court orders by a bipartisan 13-3 vote last Thursday.
Among the desired documents are any certifications provided by the Justice Department or other executive branch officials that request assistance from telephone companies, Internet service providers, equipment manufacturers, or data processor. (Recall that a lawsuit filed by civil liberties groups is pending against AT&T concerning allegations that it cooperated illegally with the NSA and has spied on millions of innocent Americans. Meanwhile, the Bush administration has been pushing for legislation to immunize such companies from liability.)
In his letters to the officials, Leahy said the committee had made at least nine formal requests for information over the past 18 months but had been rebuffed on each attempt.
"The Administration cannot thwart the Congress's conduct of its constitutional duties with sweeping assertions of secrecy and privilege," he wrote. "The Committee seeks no intimate operational facts and we are willing to accommodate legitimate redactions of the documents we seek to eliminate reference to these details."
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said in an e-mail interview Wednesday that the agency, for its part, "will continue to work closely with the Congress as they exercise their oversight functions, and we will review this matter in the spirit of that longstanding relationship."
But he indicated that the politicians may not be able to get all the documents they're after. "It is vital to protect sensitive intelligence sources and methods associated with this kind of national security information, particularly when it relates to intelligence programs that are the subject of oversight by the Intelligence Committees," Boyd said. "We must also give appropriate weight to the confidentiality of internal Executive Branch deliberations."
Besides, any electronic surveillance that may have been done in connection with the "terrorist surveillance program" as of January 2007 is now being approved by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and information about those court orders have been shared with "appropriate" members of Congress, Boyd added.
The National Security Agency program first came to light in a December 2005 New York Times report, and since then, Bush administration officials have mostly defended their admitted failure to secure court approval for the eavesdropping. But in an appearance last month before the Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General James Comey told politicians that there was actually disagreement within the department about the regime's legality, arousing new suspicion among critics.
The documents are due in the committee's hands by July 18. The panel also requested in-person testimony by each of the subpoena recipients on that date but said they would waive that requirement if all of the requested documents are delivered on time.
Copies of the letters are available at Leahy's Web site.
WASHINGTON--For more than a year, senators on a panel that oversees the U.S. Department of Justice have been trying to get their hands on Bush administration documents illuminating a once-secret National Security Agency surveillance program that operated without prior court approval. Now they may get their chance.
At around midday on Thursday--after a few hours of stalling, a floor vote and one meeting venue change--the Senate Judiciary Committee finally rounded up enough votes to authorize subpoenas compelling Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush's recordskeeper to turn over all documents related to its operation and legal analysis of the warrantless regime. The vote here was 13-3, with three Republicans rejecting the measure and three Republicans joining 10 Democrats to approve it.
The action was necessary because of repeated "stonewalling" by the Bush administration, which has failed to surrender the necessary documents voluntarily, a number of committee Democrats and Republican co-chairman Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) said.
"I've been here with six administrations and have never known an administration on substantive issues like this to be so secretive and so unwilling to cooperate," Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said before the vote.
Of particular concern to some members are conflicting reports that have recently surfaced about the department's own views on the legality of the so-called "terrorist surveillance program." During a Senate appearance last year, Attorney General Attorney Gonzales indicated there was no dispute within the department that the wiretapping regime was within the law, but former Deputy Assistant Attorney General James Comey told politicians at a hearing last month that there was actually "substantial disagreement" on that front, Specter said.
Some committee members who voted for the subpoenas said the Bush administration shouldn't expect to get the electronic surveillance law changes it wants unless it provides more information about its eavesdropping activities. The administration has been lobbying Congress for a proposal that would, among other things, immunize from lawsuits all telecommunications companies that assist the U.S. government in its surveillance--seemingly a direct shot at scores of pending suits, including one targeting AT&T.
It's unclear when the subpoenas will be issued or what exactly they will request, although groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Democracy and Technology have each composed wishlists.
It also remains to be seen how the Bush administration will respond. Presidents in the past have attempted to use their executive privilege powers to decline all or part of such requests, although courts have curbed their power to do so. Specter, for his part, said, "if president is going to impose objections of executive privilege or attorney-client privilege, we will deal with that when that arises."
Meanwhile, there also been no further talk of subpoenaing executives at
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