Mukasey defends FBI and DOJ procedures before Senate panel

[maddezmom]

Mukasey defends FBI and DOJ procedures before Senate panel
Mike Rosen-Molina at 10:06 AM ET



Attorney General Michael Mukasey denied Wednesday that proposed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) guidelines would allow agents to open terror investigations based solely on a person's race, religion, or ethnicity. Testifying at a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee , Mukasey said that travel to foreign terror "hot spots" would be one of many factors to be considered but refused to discuss hypothetical situations that might lead to an investigation. In a prepared statement , Mukasey focused on DOJ efforts to ensure a smooth transfer of power in the upcoming presidential election and called on Congress to pass an amended Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) , saying that it was vital for national security:

It is also important that we do everything we can to give our national security professionals, who will be confronting the al Qaeda threat in this Administration and the next, the tools they need to keep us safe. Nothing is more important in that regard than the effort to reform and update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The ability to intercept and to analyze the electronic communications of our country’s enemies is the best defensive weapon we have, and I appreciate all the efforts of the members of this Committee and your colleagues in the Senate in this regard.

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said that Mukasey's testimony would be a chance to address concerns that the DOJ had become politicized under the Bush administration:

The recent report from the Department's Inspector General confirms what our oversight efforts have uncovered about the politicizing of hiring practices at the Department. It confirms our findings and our fears that the same Bush Justice Department officials involved with the firing of United States Attorneys were injecting partisanship into the hiring of young attorneys. I expect further reports from the Inspector General will shed additional light on the extent to which the Bush administration has allowed politics to affect – and infect – the Department's priorities, from law enforcement to the operation of the Civil Rights Division to the Department's hiring practices.

The Department of Justice is not the President’s legal defense team any more than the Attorney General is his lawyer. The Attorney General is not the White House counsel and should not act as one. The Department of Justice is a law enforcement agency, not a partisan political operation. These are the truths that have been overridden in the last seven years.

more:http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/07/mukasey-defends-fbi-and-doj-procedures.php


Mukasey Pledges to Revise McNulty Memo, Spars With Senators at Hearing

!snip~
Earlier today, at the outset of the question and answer session, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the committee's chairman, accused Mukasey of failing to keep his promise, made last fall, to review all controversial legal opinions by the department's Office of Legal Counsel issued in recent years.

"Why have you done that?" Leahy asked bluntly.

"Respectfully, I don’t think I’ve gone back on my word," Mukasey said. Mukasey went on to say that he has reviewed "all significant OLC memos," some of which have been made available to the judiciary and intelligence panels in Congress.

Leahy quickly interjected: "I beg to differ with you a little bit...Simply reviewing the current ones , I don’t think is enough." Leahy explained that revisiting past legal memos on executive powers would help the committee.

"I can’t make a commitment to open up drawers of OLC and make them available to this committee," Mukasey shot back.

more:http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/07/mukasey-pledges.html

[maddezmom]

1. Mukasey denies politics at Justice, surprising Democrats

Mukasey denies politics at Justice, surprising Democrats
By Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Wednesday dismissed allegations of widespread politicization within the Justice Department, saying he hadn't seen evidence of it since he took office eight months ago.

Mukasey's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee came after the Justice Department's inspector general concluded last month that some officials were weeding out job and internship applicants with liberal credentials before Mukasey took office.

When Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., asked him whether he'd found that the department had been politicized, Mukasey said he'd instead encountered "enormously dedicated people who are very committed to my succeeding."

"That's not my question," Biden replied. "Did you find that some of those enormously dedicated people engaged in politicizing the administration of justice?"

"No," Mukasey said. "Otherwise, I would not characterize them as enormously dedicated."

"Well, that's amazing," Biden said in disbelief.

more:http://www.mcclatchydc.com/130/story/43579.html