Justice Department Lawyers Denied Security Clearance

The National Security Agency denied Justice Department lawyers the security clearance necessary to investigate the national domestic eavesdropping program.

The program allows the largest U.S. spy agency to monitor people in the United States without warrants. The Bush administration has argued that NSA activities have been narrowly targeted at suspected terrorists.

In February, The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) announced that it would examine its own lawyers role in the program. The agency, however, was not authorized to investigate NSA eavesdropping activities.

H. Marshall Jarrett, counsel for OPR, said that his office began making requests for the necessary clearances in January 2006. The NSA denied those requests on Tuesday.

In a letter sent to Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-NY, Jarrett wrote, “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.”

Hinchey, together with other House Democrats, has been highly critical of the domestic eavesdropping program. Since the program was first revealed in December 2005, its legality has been the subject of much heated debate.

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