Justice Department to get a national security chief
The Justice Department offices that oversee issues involving terrorism, spying, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will get a new chief after Congress clears the USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization in the next few weeks.
The bill includes a provision creating a national security division at Justice headed by an assistant attorney general. The 11th assistant attorney general will oversee the department's counter-terrorism section -- now headed by acting chief Mike Mullaney -- and the counter-espionage section -- led by John Dion.
The new division will also house the Office of Intelligence Policy Review, the currently independent FISA-warrant-seeking shop led by General Counsel James Baker.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Congress on Feb. 6 that the new division would streamline the FISA process, which the Bush administration has criticized as too slow-moving to use in the National Security Agency's wiretapping of calls between suspected Qaeda operatives overseas and people within the United States.
In an interview with National Journal, Gonzales said that the new assistant attorney general, whose identity will be announced by the White House, will "make the department a much more effective player in the war on terror."
"It's good to have someone at that level who will have the expertise and the experience, and the gravitas, to represent the department's interest in these kinds of discussions," Gonzales said.
COMMENTS
- “When Fascism comes to this country, it’s going to be wrapped in the American flag.” Huey Long GovExec.com reader Posted March 1, 2006 12:28 PM
- Wow -- as a student of history, how scary is this model being established at Justice. A National Security Chief to pull all aspects together at the department. Democracy and freedom are sloppy and wonderfully inefficient but this administration keeps up its drumbeat for authoritarianism at every opportunity -- even at the Department of Justice which could turn into the Department of Injustice. How soon before Gestapo thugs start breaking down doors without warrants? Those who don't know or care about history are forever doomed to repeat it. The very sloppy Weimar Republic turned into the very efficient Nazi Germany in just a few short years. I'm really appalled that the seeds of fascism keep getting sown in this very fertile field of fear called America. In my opinion it wouldn't take much to cause this horrible crop to fully grow. And, unlike the Germans and other Europeans who regained democracy and freedom through our efforts and blood spilled to free them, who will be left to save us from ourselves. HR Specialist GovExec.com reader Posted March 1, 2006 7:50 AM
