Politicizing National Security

Hans von Spakovsky / September 25, 2009

The embarrassing revelation in a recent Washington Post story that Attorney General Eric Holder “did not read detailed memos that prosecutors drafted and placed in files to explain their decision to decline prosecution” of CIA interrogators is just another example of a seriously flawed decision-making process in the Obama Justice Department.

I worked directly for three assistant attorneys general and two acting AAGs during my years in the Civil Rights Division. Whenever a memorandum on a proposed criminal prosecution or civil investigation was sent up to the front office for approval, the AAGs for whom I worked always read it. Referred to in DOJ nomenclature as “j-memos” (short for “justification memos”), these documents summarized all of the relevant facts, outlined the applicable statutes and case law, and detailed the recommendation of the career lawyers. We did not always agree with the legal analysis contained in those memos. But none of the AAGs with whom I served would have considered making a decision without first reviewing the documents. Indeed, they would have considered a failure to do so as bordering on malpractice. (more…)