Davis Demands to Know Why Leak Investigations Were Dropped
Letter to Attorney General Gonzales Asks for FBI's Explanation into Abandoned Probes

January 19, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), ranking member of the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to explain why the FBI abandoned investigations into leaks of classified materials.

The letter was prompted by a Jan. 10 story in The New York Sun, which reported that FBI agents had abandoned several investigations because the victim agencies refused to cooperate. The story quoted FBI agents complaining that victim agencies refused to return telephone calls or provide requested documents and repeatedly canceled interviews, briefings and meetings related to investigations.

Davis' letter asks for an explanation of how the Department Of Justice s Counterespionage Section handled the requests from the FBI to close leak investigations, some of which involved the CIA, according to news reports. It also asks for information on 22 files on these closed cases that have gone missing, how they went missing and what steps the Justice Department is taking to recover them.

"It is clear [President Bush] finds these links to be highly problematic, and I agree," Davis said in the letter. "The FBI holds itself out as the premiere investigative agency for the United States. As such, I find it hard to believe the FBI closes espionage leak investigations simply because another agency refuses to cooperate."