Conyers to Gonzales: What about That Leak?

The New York Times, citing current and former government officials, reported this weekend that the 2004 dispute over the NSA’s surveillance program concerned data mining (how? why? we still don’t know). “If the dispute chiefly involved data mining, rather than eavesdropping,” the paper reported, “Mr. Gonzales’ defenders may maintain that his narrowly crafted answers, while legalistic, were technically correct.”

But House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers’ (D-MI) eyebrow is raised. In a letter to Alberto Gonzales today, he wondered about the timing of these leaks:

…W]e are concerned that this disclosure, stemming from “current and former officials briefed on the program,” may simply be an effort to respond via Administration leak of potentially classified information designed to rehabilitate previous controversial testimony by you. In this regard, we would inquire whether you or anyone in your front office has any knowledge or involvement in these leaks, and if so, who and the nature thereof.

In 2005, when the Times first reported the existence of the NSA warrantless wiretapping program, the Justice Department promptly launched a criminal investigation of the leaks. Conyers, clearly, is wondering whether these leaks (which are rather more favorable to the administration) will receive the same scrutiny.

Conyers also asks again for background materials on the wiretapping and program — as he has been since the beginning of this year.