The US Justice Department has opened an investigation into the leak of classified information about President George W Bush 's secret domestic spying programme, justice officials said today.
The officials said the inquiry will focus on disclosures to The New York Timesabout warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency since the September 11th 2001, terrorist attacks.
The newspaper revealed the existence of the programme two weeks ago in a front-page story. It acknowledged that the story had been withheld from publication for a year, partly at the request of the administration and partly because it wanted more time to confirm various aspects of the programme.
The story unleashed a firestorm of criticism of the administration. Some critics accused the president of breaking the law by authorising intercepts of conversations - without prior court approval or oversight - of people inside the United States and abroad who had suspected ties to al Q'aeda or its affiliates.
The surveillance programme, which Mr Bush acknowledged authorising, bypassed a nearly 30-year-old secret court established to handle highly sensitive investigations involving espionage and terrorism.
Administration officials insisted that Mr Bush has the power to conduct the warrantless surveillance under the US constitution's war powers provision.
They also argued that Congress gave Mr Bush the power to conduct such a secret programme when it authorised the use of military force against terrorism in a resolution adopted within days of the September 11th attacks.
PA