US agency to review role in eavesdropping program

WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) The Justice Department is launching an internal review of its participation in the Bush administration's controversial domestic eavesdropping program, the department's inspector general told congressional leaders.

The review, which congressional Democrats have sought for nearly a year, will examine the Justice Department's role in the warrantless domestic spying program run by the super-secret National Security Agency (NSA), Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine said yesterday.

''After conducting initial inquiries into the program, we have decided to open a program review that will examine the department's controls and use of information related to the program and the department's compliance with legal requirements governing the program,'' Fine said in a letter.

The letter was sent to House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, and Rep John Conyers, the Michigan Democrat who will succeed Sensenbrenner as head of the panel in January.

Fine said he was notified last week that the White House had granted security clearances to his staff in response to a request he made on October. 20. Previously, only Fine and two members of his staff were given clearance, a prerequisite for conducting such a review, he said.

The program allows the NSA to eavesdrop, without first obtaining warrants, on international phone calls and emails between parties in the United States and other countries.

The administration has defended the program as a legal and necessary tool for fighting terrorism. But civil libertarians have called it unconstitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union, a critic of the program, said Fine's review was long overdue.

''We applaud Inspector General Fine for his perseverance in pushing for this investigation and hope it will be comprehensive and free from political pressure,'' said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.

REUTERS SP PM1059