What Was He Thinking? More evidence of incompetence by former attorney general Alberto Gonzales

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/07/AR2008090701989.html

What Was He Thinking?
More evidence of incompetence by former attorney general Alberto Gonzales

Monday, September 8, 2008; Page A16


A RECENTLY RELEASED report from the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General raises some fundamental questions: Was Alberto R. Gonzales the least intellectually gifted attorney general in history? Did he possess the worst memory? Was he incapable of telling the truth? All of the above?

Mr. Gonzales has been out of office for nearly one year. But the inspector general's report brings back all too clearly the deep and varied flaws Mr. Gonzales exhibited while serving as the nation's top law enforcement officer.

The report, made public last week, focuses on Mr. Gonzales's handling of notes he took of a March 2004 congressional briefing on a National Security Agency (NSA) warrantless wiretapping program. Mr. Gonzales, then White House counsel, placed his notes -- which included uncontrovertibly sensitive information about the program -- in one envelope, which he then tucked into another. Mr. Gonzales labeled the outer envelope, "AG -- Eyes Only -- Top Secret." Mr. Gonzales carried those notes with him when he began work as attorney general on Feb. 3, 2005. Upon arriving at the Justice Department that day, Mr. Gonzales was briefed on how to handle classified information and told that he could store sensitive information in the department's command center. So what did Mr. Gonzales do with the notes? He took them home. Despite his own labeling of the package as top secret, he told the inspector general he didn't realize the notes contained classified information. Problem is, Mr. Gonzales's house was not equipped with the required secure facility for storing such documents. Although he had a government-issued safe in the house, he did not remember the combination, according to the report. Once Mr. Gonzales brought the notes back to the Justice Department, he failed to secure them in an authorized space. The report concludes that Mr. Gonzales also failed to properly secure at least 17 other highly classified documents pertaining to the NSA program, as well as some regarding a detainee interrogation program.

In short, programs described by Mr. Gonzales as being among the most sensitive in operation could have been compromised by his irresponsibility and lack of judgment. There's a reason government agencies create systems and procedures to protect highly sensitive, national security information. Mr. Gonzales -- a Harvard law grad and former Texas Supreme Court justice -- apparently didn't understand that.

it not OK to take a peek!
Sounds like he was wanting things to be looked into.

That's a good way to lose your job.

Jeffrey A. Taylor. The very same Jeff that is now US Attorney for DC, probably put there so no one in that position would convene a Grand Jury when the White House ignored subpoenas.

You last saw him hosting the FBI briefing on the Bruce Ivins case.


Very busy bushbot, the Jeffster.

:kick: and R

Update on the Gonzales Report
By Scott Horton - http://harpers.org/archive/2008/09/hbc-90003493

I have now read the Inspector General’s report, which can be examined here. As with the other reports that have recently emanated from Fine’s office, it is well crafted. I have been critical of Fine’s disinclination to recommend serious sanctions in many of the internal investigations he has handled, but his investigative work reflects a high level of professionalism. If anything, it is marked by caution in coming to conclusions and a willingness to fairly and carefully weigh the defenses that are offered up by his targets. These are the signs of a fair-minded prosecutor, and they are, frankly, little in evidence in today’s Department of Justice, particularly in politically charged public integrity cases.

It appears that some of the Gonzales notes at the focus of the query relate to a briefing of the “Gang of Eight”—Congressional leadership figures, including Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman, and Jay Rockefeller on the Democratic side—about surveillance procedures. This has been a focus of some recent sharp criticism within Congress as Republican leaders imply that the Democrats knew of and at least implicitly approved the Administration’s tactics in overriding the limitations on domestic surveillance put in place by the FISA statute. The Gonzales notes will therefore be of some historical interest as records of the depth of the briefing that was given.

The report also demonstrates a rather curious defense mounted for Gonzales by his attorney, George Terwilliger, a man whose name repeatedly figured on the short list approved by movement conservatives to succeed Gonzales. Terwilliger appears to have taken aim at former Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey, arguing that he was an interloper at the hospital bedside conversation that Gonzales conducted with Ashcroft, at which Andrew Card and Mrs. Ashcroft were also present. The argument can’t work because Comey was the acting Attorney General at that point,.....

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Has Fredo Dodged a Bullet?
By Scott Horton - http://harpers.org/archive/2008/09/hbc-90003489

Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine has released another report, this one looking into allegations that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales mishandled classified materials. The actual text of the report will be out in a few hours, but in the meantime, the Washington Post has the bottom line: Yes, Fine concludes, Gonzales is guilty of mishandling classified materials. But nothing will come of it. There will be no recommendation of criminal action.

Carrie Johnson reports: ................

Incompetent and not very bright I would say...