TO: Reporters and Editors
RE: DOJ Intelligence Community Investigations
DA: Thursday, June 30, 2011
Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the U.S. Department of Justice, made the following comment after the Attorney General announced that all but two investigations regarding the Intelligence Community were no longer being pursued.
“For nearly two years, the men and women of our intelligence community have been walking on egg shells because Attorney General Holder decided to re-open a preliminary investigation of CIA employees involved in the interrogation program. Two years, and who knows how many taxpayer dollars later, we now learn the Justice Department has dropped its investigation with respect to all but two cases. The Attorney General should continue to reassure the intelligence community members involved in the two remaining cases that if they relied on the legal advice of the Justice Department that they will not be prosecuted, just as he did at the beginning of the investigation. I’m glad the Justice Department has called off the broad investigation, but I will keep an eye on the remaining two cases to make sure they progress only if there is credible evidence. Perhaps now our intelligence professionals in the field can stop looking over their shoulders and the Attorney General will quit armchair quarterbacking from Washington, D.C., intelligence decisions in the field.”