Senators Push for Info about Surveillance ProgramIn a joint letter today, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) and ranking member Arlen Specter (R-PA) wrote to demand documents relevant to the administration’s domestic surveillance program, specifically the the legal justifications and analysis for the program.
Noting that the committee has been seeking these documents for the last 18 months, the two wrote, “Your consistent stonewalling and misdirection have prevented this Committee from carrying out its constitutional oversight and legislative duties for far too long.” James Comey’s testimony last week — that a number of senior Justice Department officials and FBI Director Robert Mueller were prepared to resign when the administration authorized a surveillance program without Justice Department’s legal certification — has added even more urgency to their request. You can read the letter here.
The two also note that the administration has been making noises about wanting to “modernize” the law governing domestic wiretaps, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Well, they write, such modernization won’t be happening without the committee’s say so, so hand over the documents: “Before we can even begin to consider any such legislative proposal, we must be given appropriate access to the information necessary to carry out our oversight and legislative duties.”
The two requested the documents by no later than June 5, 2007.
