Bush Blocks Eavesdropping Investigation

AP reported earlier today that President Bush personally blocked an investigation by the Justice Department into the secret eavesdropping program in which American citizens' conversations with others overseas were recorded without first securing constitutionally required warrants (story here).

By refusing to grant security clearance to the investigators, Bush effectively ended the probe that had been launched by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez later defended Bush's blocking of the investigation, saying, "The president of the United States makes the decision [regarding who is granted security clearance]." Press secretary Tony Snow defended the move along those same lines, saying, "What he was saying is that in the case of a highly classified program, you need to keep the number of people exposed to it tight for reasons of national security, and that's what he did."

This argument, however, raises the question of why the administration granted security clearance to "a large team" of prosecutors and FBI agents who were investigating the source of the leak that brought the secret program to light. Senator Arlen Specter questioned the administration's decision, stating, "It was highly classified, very important and many other lawyers had access. Why not OPR?" The obvious difference between the investigators who were given clearance and those who were denied clearance was that Bush only blocked the efforts of those inquiring into the legality of the program. The administration was very willing to expose classified details in order to learn the identity of the leaker, but did not want details of the program to come under scrutiny by those charged with assessing its constitutionality and legality.

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear -- and the Bush administration is obviously afraid of their unconstitutional programs being brought to light.