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Report Faults Gonzales On Classified Data

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The Washington Post

Published: September 3, 2008

WASHINGTON - Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told investigators that he could not recall whether he took home notes regarding the government's most sensitive national security program and that he did not know they contained classified information, despite his own markings that they were "top secret - eyes only," according to a Justice Department report released Tuesday.

Gonzales improperly carried notes about the warrantless wiretapping program in an unlocked briefcase and failed to keep them in a safe at his Northern Virginia home three years ago because he "could not remember the combination," the department's inspector general reported.

A National Security Agency official who reviewed the notes said they contained references to operational aspects of the wiretapping initiative, including a top-secret code word for the program, information that had been "zealously protected" by the agency and was "not a close call" in terms of its sensitivity, the report said.

Mishandling classified material violates Justice Department polices and can result in criminal charges, but prosecutors in the department's National Security Division declined to bring a case after reviewing the allegations and consulting with career officials, spokesman Dean Boyd said.

Through his attorneys and advisers, Gonzales characterized the amount of material he possessed as limited and said the lapses were unintentional.

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