Underplayed Story of the Day

Could this be the first sign that Michael Mukasey, in his first week on the job as Attorney General, really does intend to bring a new openness to the Justice Department?:

The Justice Department said yesterday that it has reopened an internal investigation of the role played by its lawyers in the administration's warrantless surveillance program, marking a notable policy shift just days into the tenure of new Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey.

The investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was abandoned in July 2006 after President Bush refused to give security clearances to the OPR lawyers conducting the investigation, according to documents and congressional testimony.

That rebuff represented an unusually direct White House intervention into the Justice Department's internal affairs and came under sharp criticism from congressional Democrats, who were eager to learn about the involvement of Justice Department lawyers in the National Security Agency's domestic spying program.

H. Marshall Jarrett, the OPR's chief counsel, wrote in a letter to several lawmakers yesterday that lawyers in his office "recently received the necessary security clearances and are now able to proceed with our investigation." He said the investigation will focus on "the role of Department of Justice attorneys in the authorization and oversight of warrantless electronic surveillance . . . and in complying with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."