WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said it intends to provide its inspector general with quicker access to documents that the watchdog office says it’s been delayed in receiving.
Those materials include grand jury testimony, credit information and communications obtained from law enforcement wiretaps.
The announcement follows a directive from Congress for the department — and several other federal government agencies — to be more responsive to information requests from their inspector generals’ offices.
It provides at least a temporary resolution to an internal debate over access to documents the inspector general says it needs for its investigations. The dispute flared publicly last year after the department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion that sought to clarify the conditions under which the inspector general could receive grand jury information and other sensitive documents that are otherwise shielded by law from disclosure.
The Justice Department’s watchdog said challenges in collecting that information from the department has led to delays in several major investigations, including one released last year into overseas sex parties attended by federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents.
In a memo this week to Justice Department component agencies, Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates said responding to inspector general requests is “of the highest priority.”
She said that in light of the new guidance from Congress, the department may now disclose to the inspector general grand jury, credit and wiretap information “without any additional procedures or delay” and regardless of whether any other statute would prohibit their release.
The Justice Department had asked Congress to remove conflicts between the 1978 Inspector General Act, which generally authorized the inspector general to have access to all records and reports that it needed for investigations, and other privacy statutes that protect from disclosure certain categories of sensitive information such as grand jury testimony and wiretap details. The department’s office of legal counsel said in its opinion last year that those statutes permitted the disclosure of that material in “most, but not all, of the circumstances” in which they might be requested.
Congress addressed the matter through a recently enacted spending bill that covers the remainder of the fiscal year and a handful of other inspectors general, including for the Commerce Department and NASA. But the department says it would still like a more permanent fix.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a statement Tuesday that he appreciated Congress’ support for his office. He called on lawmakers to pass legislation, known as the IG Empowerment Act, to ensure that the 72 inspectors general “have access to the information they need on a permanent basis.”
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