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Justice watchdog can't investigate spy program

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department's independent watchdog says it does not have jurisdiction to open an investigation into the legality of the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program.

Also Tuesday, the Pentagon referred a Democratic request for an internal review on the subject to the National Security Agency's inspector general.

In a three-paragraph letter, Justice's Inspector General Glenn Fine forwarded the request to the department's Office of Professional Responsibility, which reviews allegations of misconduct involving employees' actions when providing legal advice.

President Bush's decision to authorize the NSA to monitor - without warrants - people inside the United States has sparked a flurry of questions about the program's legal justification.

Bush and his top aides say the activities of the nation's largest spy agency were narrowly targeted to intercept calls and e-mails of Americans and others inside the United States with suspected ties to al-Qaida.

But a growing chorus of legal experts from both parties are raising doubts about Bush's authority to order such monitoring on U.S. soil and questioning whether the White House should have sought changes in law.

Congress also plans to investigate. As part of its work, the House and Senate intelligence committees will soon hear from former NSA officer Russell T. Tice. The whistleblower told lawmakers in a Dec. 16 letter that he had information about "probable unlawful and unconstitutional acts" involving the NSA director, the defense secretary and other officials as part of highly classified government operations.

ABC News reported Tuesday night that Tice claims to be one of the dozen sources who spoke to the New York Times about monitoring programs.

[Last modified January 11, 2006, 00:42:11]