Posted on 10/29/2015 3:11:17 PM PDT by amorphous
Department of Justice officials gave official approval Thursday to the FBI’s practice of blocking access to data and documents in a decision that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said “undermines†his ability to do his job and violates the will of Congress.
“Today’s opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel undermines the IG’s independence, which is a hallmark of the Inspector General system and is essential to carrying out the IG’s oversight responsibilities under the Inspector General Act,†Horowitz said.
“The OLC’s opinion restricts the IG’s ability to independently access all records in the Justice Department’s possession that are necessary for our audits, reviews, and investigations, and is contrary to the principles and express language set forth in the Inspector General Act,†Horowitz said.
The much-anticipated OLC memorandum said the FBI can use the Patriot Act to withhold wiretapping, surveillance and credit records from the DOJ IG.
After a years-long battle with the FBI over these types of records, Horowitz and other inspectors general had hoped for a very different outcome in a decision that could have negative ripple effects for other inspectors general appointed to expose waste, fraud and abuse. The OLC opinion also claims Section 218 of the DOJ’s current budget, which prohibits any agency within the department from using its budget to block IG access, was insufficiently clear.
But Horowitz strongly disagreed, saying “Congress meant what it said when it authorized Inspectors General to independently access ‘all’ documents necessary to conduct effective oversight. Without such access, our office’s ability to conduct its work will be significantly impaired, and it will be more difficult for us to detect and deter waste, fraud, and abuse, and to protect taxpayer dollars. We look forward to working with the Congress and the Justice Department to promptly remedy this serious situation.â€
Horowitz is also chairman of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, which represents the government’s 72 IGs. The IG system was created by Congress and President Carter in 1978.
Members of Congress and IGs have been waiting on the OLC to issue an opinion for more than a year. Forty-seven IGs told Congress in a signed letter last August that they were too often being blocked by executive branch officials.
Department of Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth told the Daily Caller News Foundation last week that a decision in favor of the FBI over the DOJ’s IG would have serious consequences.
“Access to information is the lifeblood of what we do for effective oversight, and any impediment for getting information would be a serious impediment to effective oversight,†Roth said.
Now, DOJ IG investigators will need approval from the DOJ to access DOJ records that could reveal waste, fraud or abuse within the department
Why do we have a Congress?
It`s a decoration.
When you politicize a government agency, a specialty of Obama, the opportunity for corruption and graft becomes enormous as in irresistible.
/S
“Department of Justice officials”
Good, then hold a hearing and bring them in to testify and find them in CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS AND IMPRISON THEM IN YOUR OWN DAMNED JAIL, DO YOUR JOB::
ANd for those of you that might question this Inherent Right CONGRESS Possesses to IMPRISON YOU, here is what the Communist Party has to say:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2007/04/house_arrest.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/opinion/04tue4.html?_r=0
Congress has ALL the power in washington, the executive and judicial branch operate according to the whims of CONGRESS!
Congress can Remove the President
Congress can remove the head of every executive agency Congress can remove ALL of their employees
Congress can Abolish every agency they so choose
Congress can remove EVERY JUDGE IN AMERICA, including every supreme court justice.
Congress can abolish every federal court except the supreme Court
Congress can decide which cases the Judicial Branch can hear and decide
CONGRESS can Imprison ANYONE they want for any reason they so desire for as long as they wish.
Congress can declare WAR
No other governing body has even 10% of the power CONGRESS has!!
CONGRESS IS ALLOWING ALL OF IT!!!
Congress has the authority to arrest and imprison those found in Contempt. The power extends throughout the United States and is an inherent power (does not depend upon legislated act)
If found in Contempt the person can be arrested under a warrant of the Speaker of the House of Representatives or President of the Senate, by the respective Sergeant at Arms.
Statutory criminal contempt is an alternative to inherent contempt.
Under the inherent contempt power Congress may imprison a person for a specific period of time or an indefinite period of time, except a person imprisoned by the House of Representatives may not be imprisoned beyond adjournment of a session of Congress.
Imprisonment may be coercive or punitive.
Some references
[1] Joseph Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution, Volume 2, § 842 http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/print_documents/a1_5s21.html
[2] Anderson v. Dunn - 19 U.S. 204 - “And, as to the distance to which the process might reach, it is very clear that there exists no reason for confining its operation to the limits of the District of Columbia; after passing those limits, we know no bounds that can be prescribed to its range but those of the United States.†http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/19/204/case.html
[3] Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U.S. 125 http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/294/125/case.html 73rd Cong., 78 Cong. Rec. 2410 (1934) https://archive.org/details/congressionalrec78aunit
[4] McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135 - Under a warrant issued by the President of the Senate the Deputy to the Senate Sergeant at Arms arrested at Cincinnati, Ohio, Mally S. Daugherty, who had been twice subpoenaed by the Senate and twice failed to appear. http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/273/135/case.html
[5] Rules of the House of Representatives, Rule IV Duties of the Sergeant at Arms - [] execute the commands of the House, and all processes issued by authority thereof, directed to him by the Speaker. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/HMAN-105/pdf/HMAN-105-pg348.pdf
[6] An analysis of Congressional inquiry, subpoena, and enforcement http://www.constitutionproject.org/documents/when-congress-comes-calling-a-primer-on-the-principles-practices-and-pragmatics-of-legislative-inquiry/
Ya think?
I can’t imagine where the DoJ thinks they get the power to withhold this information from the IG.
Why would Congress have created such a position?
Yet one more proof that this government is an out of control criminal operation, beholden to no one except themselves.
Welcome to the New Socialist Caliphate of the Western Hemisphere.
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious [Christian] people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams
I love this post. I like the way it is posted wherever it is needed. Think about putting up on its own as a thread under personal/bloggers?
Let's just get the government to start rounding up and killing anyone who disagrees with them.
Let's get this party started.
Patience. It’s coming, and don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!
You know MY go-sign?
When I no longer can see any of you on the internet.
It will be time then.
ping
Mine will be when the front lines reach me; or I decide to reach them. But not until they are established.
Here’s the hole in your plan: With the media so completely in Propaganda mode, nothing they report — or fail to report — will be meaningful.
That leaves the internet. When that’s gone, you know what’s up.
You will only have a short period of time to get somewhere once the internet goes down, and distance you can travel will depend on your route and how much gasoline you can carry. If I had a long ways to go, I'd look for another sign if nothing but a gut feeling about things.
You know as well as anyone what it will mean for the entire internet to go down and how it will affect gas stations, grocery stores, banks, ...
July 10, 2012
Obama signs order outlining emergency Internet control
President Barack Obama signed an executive order last week that could give the U.S. government control over the Internet.
With the wordy title "Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions," this order was designed to empower certain governmental agencies with control over telecommunications and the Web during natural disasters and security emergencies.
’s.....What is with this crap, every other word?
I noticed it yesterday on a block of text from a different website.
Test post.
“”’:;? () *&^%$#@!
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