Sunday, June 24, 2007
A tale of interdepartmental cooperation.
Michael Isikoff, writing in Newsweek, gives us this look at how the 'fix' works in the White House, as well as giving us a good reason why Gonzo remains in office. Back in January J. William Leonard, the chief of the Archives' Information Security Oversight Office, wrote a letter to Gonzo asking for a ruling on Dickwahd's refusal to allow oversight of his handling of classified information. Gonzo has yet to reply, but this much is known,
Why didn't Gonzales act on Leonard's request? His aides assured reporters that Leonard's letter has been "under review" for the past five months—by Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). But on June 4, an OLC lawyer denied a Freedom of Information Act request about the Cheney dispute asserting that OLC had "no documents" on the matter, according to a copy of the letter obtained by NEWSWEEK. Steve Aftergood, the Federation of American Scientists researcher who filed the request, said he found the denial letter "puzzling and inexplicable"—especially since Leonard had copied OLC chief Steve Bradbury on his original letter to Gonzales. The FOIA response has piqued the interest of congressional investigators, who note Bradbury is the same official in charge of vetting all document requests from Congress about the U.S. attorneys flap. Asked about the apparent discrepancy, Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the OLC response "was and remains accurate" because Leonard's letter had generated no "substantive work product."As in, no "substantive work product" after a quick trip through the shredder? Or just the usual inability of Bushovik appointees to produce anything worth looking at. Only time will tell.
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