Washington (CNN) – Federal authorities Thursday indicted 26 suspects in nine states in a wide-ranging scheme to defraud a program intended to help the deaf.

Officials said they arrested conspirators in New York, New Jersey,
Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Maryland.

"The individuals charged in connection with today's operation are alleged to have stolen tens of millions of dollars from an important government program that is intended to help deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans communicate with hearing persons," said Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

Breuer told reporters the defendants allegedly generated fraudulent call minutes by making it appear that deaf Americans were engaging in legitimate calls with hearing persons. "In reality, the defendants were simply attempting to steal money from an FCC program that is funded by every single American who pays their telephone bills," he said.

The FBI was deeply involved in the investigation, authorities said.

Joseph Persichini Jr. assistant director of the FBI's Washington field office, added, "Unfortunately, this remarkable service designed to help those in need also provided a growth opportunity for criminal activity that we believe has cost American consumers tens of millions of dollars."

Officials said the 26 indicted individuals falsely billed the government at a rate of $390 per hour for using what is known as as a video relay service system.

The indictments say owners and employees of seven companies engaged in the scheme. The firms are located in Rockville, Maryland; Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; Austin Texas; Miami Lakes, Florida; and Huntington Beach, California; and one firm operated in both New York and New Jersey.

2/3 of recovered funds come from federal health care fraud, Justice Dept. says.

Washington (CNN) – Two of every three dollars federal authorities recovered from frauds against the government come from health care fraud, a top Justice Department official disclosed Thursday.

As the cost of proposed health care programs is front and center for the president and the Senate, Assistant Attorney General Tony West told reporters that $1.6 billion of the $2.4 billion recovered through lawsuits during the past year was the direct result of fraud against federal health care programs.

The $2.4 billion in settlements and court judgments against defendants
accused of fraud is the second largest annual recovery of civil fraud claims in history, West said.

The Justice Department has stepped up enforcement of health care fraud through the use of regional strike forces.

West said of the 1,040 cases currently under investigation, about 600 deal with health care fraud. A much smaller number deal with defense procurement fraud and other claims.

Most health care fraud charges in recent months have focused on people accused of overcharging Medicare for wheelchairs and other medical devices.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The activist community-organizing group ACORN will be the subject of a limited investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general, the internal watchdog office announced Monday.

Inspector General Glenn Fine said he is opening the review in response to a request from the top Republican on a key House Committee.

In a brief letter to Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, Fine said he will investigate whether ACORN applied for or received any Justice Department grant funds, and if so, whether the Justice Department had conducted any audits or reviews of ACORN's use of such funds.

Smith, who also wants the FBI to open a full criminal investigation, is the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

He said he was pleased by the inspector general's decision.

"The IG's report will help Congress ensure that money allocated to support law enforcement efforts is not instead used to support criminal
conduct," he said.

ACORN has been under fire from conservative critics following the public release of secretly taped videos that showed a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute receiving advice from some ACORN employees on how to hide their purported activities so they could obtain housing assistance.

Controversy prompted by the videotapes led to the firing of four ACORN employees, an internal ACORN investigation, and a slashing of some ACORN funds by both the House and the Senate.

In the videos, the individuals seek advice on setting up a brothel with underage women from El Salvador.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The community organizing group ACORN Wednesday announced a hiring freeze, new training programs and an independent review of its programs following the recent release of a series of videotapes embarrassing to the agency.

The videos - secretly taped by two individuals posing as a pimp and prostitute –showed ACORN employees in four of the agency's offices suggesting or condoning a series of illicit actions as the couple sought advice on setting up a brothel with underage women from El Salvador.

"We have all been deeply disturbed by what we've seen in some of these videos," said ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis. "I must say on behalf of ACORN's Board and our Advisory Council that we will go to whatever lengths necessary to reestablish the public trust."

The steps announced include an immediate halt in hiring for all ACORN offices, an immediate training program for all frontline staff, and selection of an independent auditor by the end of this week.

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Thursday the current attorney general praised his predecessor Michael Mukasey, pictured.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - At a rare Justice Department event featuring a mix of smiling Democratic and Republican luminaries, Attorney General Eric Holder Thursday praised his GOP predecessor Michael Mukasey for "skill, honor, and great integrity" during his 15-month tenure.

Without mentioning the acrimony and bitter political battles that peaked during during two tumultuous years under then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who preceded Mukasey, Holder credited Mukasey for agreeing to take the job when "the Justice Department was engulfed in turmoil."

"I can say we are continuing the work you started to restore the Justice Department. You leave a mark here of patriotism, integrity and honor," Holder concluded.

Holder hosted the event at the ornate Great Hall to honor Mukasey with the traditional unveiling of the former attorney general's commissioned portrait, which will hang among the 81 past attorneys general outside Holder's office.

"I would not change my time here with any one of them," Mukasey told the crowd. "Not for my 15 months, not for even 15 days," he said. Mukasey said he felt honored and humbled to serve with the career government attorneys.

Many Republicans including former attorneys general Ed Meese, Richard Thornburgh and William Barr returned to the Justice Department along with a throng of legal officials of the Bush Administration who mingled comfortably with Obama administration and Holder appointees, and a large contingent of senior non-partisan career Justice lawyers.

The event marked a sharp departure from what has frequently been a politically-charged atmosphere surrounding the Justice Department for nearly 20 years.

One veteran Justice official recalled the last warm bipartisan gathering came in 2001 when then-President George W. Bush was on hand to host the Kennedy family and friends, and name the main Justice building for the late former attorney general, Robert F. Kennedy.

The Justice Department submitted a court filing Monday that called a federal law regarding same-sex marriage 'discriminatory' but asked the court to throw out a challenge to the law.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama on Monday declared that the Defense of Marriage Act discriminates against gays and lesbians, even as his administration moved in federal court to defend the law.

In a court filing in Los Angeles, Justice Department lawyers urged a federal judge to throw out a case brought by a gay couple married in California.

"The Department of Justice has filed a response to a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, as it traditionally does when acts of Congress are challenged," the president said in a written statement. "This brief makes clear, however, that my administration believes that the act is discriminatory and should be repealed by Congress."

That did not satisfy leaders of the gay rights community.

"It is not enough to disavow this discriminatory law, and then wait for Congress or the courts to act," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign. "While they contend that is the (Department of Justice's) duty to defend an act of Congress, we contend that it is the administration's duty to defend every citizen from discrimination."

In his presidential campaign, Obama had strong backing from the gay community because of his promise to press for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.

The law, passed by Congress in 1996, denies federal recognition of same-sex marriages, thereby banning federal spousal benefits to those in such unions. It also allows states that prohibit same-sex marriages to deny recognition of such unions granted in other states.

The Justice Department Monday stressed the administration has not changed its views on the law.

"The Justice Department cannot pick and choose which federal laws it will defend based on any one administration's policy preferences," said department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler. "The government's filing makes clear that the administration believes the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and should be repealed."

The case challenging the law was brought by Californians Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer.

The government argues their case should be dismissed in part because they have no legal standing to bring the challenge.

"The plaintiffs have not shown that any other state has refused to recognize their California marriage, and they do not allege ... they have applied for and been denied any federal benefits" because of the law, the government said.

Federal courts to date have upheld the law, and said it is subject to "rational basis review."

In defending the existing law, the government argues, "This court should find that Congress could reasonably have concluded that there is a legitimate government interest in maintaining the status quo regarding the distribution of federal benefits in the face of serious and fluid policy differences in and and among the states. That there is now a debate taking place in this country about same-sex marriage does not make Congress's belief in this regard any less rational."

Attorney General Eric Holder will not comment on the Cambridge, Massachusetts incident.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Attorney General Eric Holder who made headlines when he referred to the American people as "essentially a nation of cowards" in failing to openly discuss racial issues is staying mum on the Cambridge, Massachusetts, police incident.

Holder's chief spokesman said Holder would defer to the White House for comment on the controversial issue.

"Given that the president just spoke on this, I don't think we have anything to add," said Justice Department Director of Public Affairs Matthew Miller, a senior aide to Holder.

President Obama waded into the issue again Friday, informing the White House press corps he had spoken with Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley and said he had not meant to criticize either Crowley or the city's police department. The president later also called Professor Henry Louis Gates.

Holder issued his blunt assessment of race relations in a major speech at the Justice Department on February 19, where he addressed an overflow crowd celebrating Black History Month.

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be in too many ways essentially a nation of cowards," he said then.

Minnesota Sen. Al Franken volunteered to switch seats with Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy after the Vermont senator's microphone stopped working.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - It's only his first Senate hearing, but Sen. Al Franken took the chairman's seat at the Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

When Chairman Patrick Leahy experienced a technical problem with his microphone, Franken volunteered to switch places with the Vermont senator, and sit in Leahy's chair. Faced with little choice, Leahy ambled down to the far end of the dais, and sat in the junior senator's chair to finish his prepared written statement. Franken, meanwhile, sat in Leahy's chair smiling from ear to ear.

Ranking Republican Jeff Sessions congratulated Franken on the move to the chairman's spot: "This is the fastest rise of any senator in history!" But the Minnesota senator's shift was short-lived: he soon relinquished the chair, and waited on the side until Leahy finished his statement. Leahy then returned to the chairman's seat, where a new microphone was in place. And Franken returned to the tail end of the committee seating chart.

Franken is in his sixth day in the Senate.

Minnesota Sen. Al Franken volunteered to switch seats with Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy after the Vermont senator's microphone stopped working.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - It's only his first Senate hearing, but Sen. Al Franken took the chairman's seat at the Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

When Chairman Patrick Leahy experienced a technical problem with his microphone, Franken volunteered to switch places with the Vermont senator, and sit in Leahy's chair. Faced with little choice, Leahy ambled down to the far end of the dais, and sat in the junior senator's chair to finish his prepared written statement. Franken, meanwhile, sat in Leahy's chair smiling from ear to ear.

Ranking Republican Jeff Sessions congratulated Franken on the move to the chairman's spot: "This is the fastest rise of any senator in history!" But the Minnesota senator's shift was short-lived: he soon relinquished the chair, and waited on the side until Leahy finished his statement. Leahy then returned to the chairman's seat, where a new microphone was in place. And Franken returned to the tail end of the committee seating chart.

Franken is in his sixth day in the Senate.

A demonstration in Chicago in 2006 protests the Bush administration's wiretapping program.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The highly controversial warrantless surveillance program initiated by President George W. Bush began within weeks of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a newly released report to Congress compiled by the inspectors general of the nation's top intelligence agencies, the Pentagon, and the Justice Department.

The report, mandated by Congress, provides context to information that has been leaked in press accounts and buttressed by congressional testimony and in books authored by former officials involved in the surveillance effort.

The report notes that several members of Congress - including then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Nancy Pelosi - were briefed on the program on October 25, 2001, and a total of 17 times before the program became public in 2005.

Among other things, the report also cites a Justice Department conclusion that "it was extraordinary and inappropriate that a single DOJ attorney, John Yoo, was relied upon to conduct the initial legal assessment of the (surveillance program)."

"The lack of oversight and review of Yoo's work ... contributed to a legal analysis of the (program) that at a minimum was factually flawed," it says.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Obama administration has promised to classify photos of alleged U.S. abuse of prisoners and detainees if that is necessary to keep the controversial photos under wraps, a senior Republican senator announced Wednesday.

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-South Carolina, informed Attorney General Eric Holder at a Judiciary Committee hearing that Graham had just won the promise from the White House chief of staff.

"A moment ago Rahm Emanuel indicated to me that the president will not let these photos see the light of day," Graham told Holder at a packed Committee hearing.

Graham is pressing for a congressional prohibition against the release of hundreds of allegedly explosive photos of prisoner abuse that U.S. military leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan believe would fuel anger in the region and endanger U.S. troops.

But if the Congress fails to act and the courts rule against the administration, it would be left to the president to find a way to keep the photos from being released.

"I think having Congress act would be a preferred way," Holder replied.

A short time later, Graham went to the Senate floor to push for a vote on his amendment to block the photos' release, and was more explicit in describing the White House promise.

"If the Congress fails to do its part to protect these photos from being released, the president would sign ... an executive order that would change their classification to be classified national security documents," Graham announced.

The ACLU has gone to court to argue for release of the photos under the Freedom of Information Act. The lawyers won a Circuit Court ruling agreeing they should be made public.

The Obama administration then chose to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

Stephen Tyrone Johns was shot and killed while working at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Justice Department sources say no preliminary decisions have been made on what charges may be brought against the gunman in the Holocaust Memorial shootings, if the shooter survives his gunshot wounds.

Officials said it was likely that the Metropolitan Police Department may lead the investigation if a decision is made to proceed with firearms or shooting charges, while the FBI will likely be the lead if evidence leads them to file federal civil rights-related charges.

An official says if the shooter survives, charges can be brought against him whether or not he is physically able to appear in court, and if and when he becomes physically able to do so the prosecution would then commence. But it will likely be hours - maybe days - before a decision is made.

Prosecutors had no information on the suspect's medical condition.

UPDATE, 5:55 p.m.: Now that security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns has died, the rifle used by the suspect has potentially become a murder weapon. It is currently in the hands of the U.S. Park Police, which has asked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to urgently trace the weapon.

The ATF has asked its weapons tracing center in West Virginia to expedite a trace on the rifle, which could be completed by tomorrow. The trace should at a minimum provide the original sale and ownership of the weapon. The ATF is also trying to determine where the weapon has been, and how it came to be used in the deadly shooting at the Holocaust Museum.

One of many questions is whether the suspect was a convicted felon who should either have turned in his weapons or been barred from owning them.

Related: Guard killed during museum shooting

Attorney General Eric Holder is tasked with pioneering a legally feasible plan to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Attorney General Eric Holder's Guantanamo Review Task Force is struggling to sort the prison detainees into five neatly ordered lists, as government lawyers try to somehow fashion a plan which will clear expected legal challenges while satisfying skeptical lawmakers and a nervous public.

Every turn appears more complicated as the weeks pass.

On the immediate heels of a demand by Congress for a clear and specific plan for emptying Guantanamo, one of President Barack Obama's top aides, David Axelrod, promised Thursday that Congress would receive such a plan, and declared the president's address Thursday represented a "framework for a plan." Administration officials indicate the plan itself is probably months away.

During an address on national security at the National Archives in Washington, Obama defended his decision to close the detention center at Guantanamo, and he outlined categories in which to separate the remaining detainees.

The framework calls for putting the names of the 240 remaining detainees into five piles, then trying to resolve the legal complexities of each.

The first group, which government sources and defense attorneys estimate at several dozen detainees, would be brought to the U.S. and tried for crimes in civilian courts. But those cases would be limited to instances in which prosecutors believe they can win convictions under criminal procedures and rules of evidence. Those would include competent legal representation, defendant's Miranda rights, direct witness testimony absent hearsay, and sharing with the defense "Brady" material - evidence which could help their case.

The government identified only one name on that list Thursday when the Justice Department announced Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, indicted in the East Africa embassy bombings, would be tried in New York. Major terrorist figures have been successfully prosecuted in New York amid tight security.

Officials familiar with the case declined to speculate how soon Ghailani could be removed from Guantanamo but acknowledged it would take some time to deal with necessary legal procedures and develop detailed security arrangements.

The officials stressed the timing is unrelated to Congressional concerns about bringing Guantanamo detainees to the U.S., expressed in a lop-sided vote Wednesday. Indeed, when Obama referred to Ghailani's case in his speech Thursday he declared, "It is time to finally see that justice is served, and that is what we intend to do".

One government official, requesting anonymity, suggested this was "atypical" and called it a "pre-9/11 case" which may fall outside of those cases that prompted serious security concerns and questions about how evidence was obtained. Ghailani was first indicted in December 1998 for the Tanzania bombing two months earlier.

A second pile of names is comprised of detainees who would face revamped military commissions for violations of the laws of war. The administration is vowing to give defendants greater legal protections, but has not said where those trials would be conducted. Interested outside lawyers are trying to figure out if those trials were held at military bases on U.S. soil whether any additional defendant rights would be attended.

"If the trials were on U.S. soil, the administration would have an even more difficult time arguing the defendants don't have full constitutional protections," said Jonathan Hafetz, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union. At present, the Supreme Court has specified only that military trial defendants at Guantanamo are entitled to habeas corpus - the right given to defendants to contest their detention.

The ACLU lawyer calls any form of military commissions a "second class system" and "an illegitimate process" under the control of the Defense Department and stacked against the defendant.

A third stack of names consists of those who could be detained at length without charge because they cannot be tried even though they are believed to pose a serious threat to the United States. This list particularly infuriates human rights and civil liberties groups. It is not known how many individuals that category may include.

Obama asserted Thursday that he had inherited "a misguided experiment that has left in its wake a flood of legal challenges that my administration is forced to deal with on a constant basis." However, if the administration proceeds with any plan to hold these detainees without charges, he will face a raft of new lawsuits. The civil liberties groups Thursday vowed to bring an array of legal and constitutional challenges to any system of indefinite detention.

A fourth stack of only 21 detainee names is for those individuals who have been ordered released by U.S. courts, but whom nobody will take. Seventeen of them are Uighurs - Chinese Muslim separatists - who say they would be executed if sent to China.

They are apparently at the front of the line for release to any nation that will accept them. However, strong opposition has developed in the U.S. to releasing them into the general population. U.S. officials say unless Washington agrees to take some of them, no other nation will step forward. An issue of concern to Congress in particular is that the Uighurs attended al Qaeda training camps before they were arrested in Pakistan and turned over to U.S. authorities.

The last category is a list - which in recent weeks has grown from 30 to 50 - of detainees who the government wants to resettle abroad. The U.S. has been engaged in diplomatic efforts for other countries to accept them. Obama's pleas to European allies appeared to fall on deaf ears, with France agreeing to take only one detainee - which France had previously said it would do.

The international community is waiting for the U.S. to take the first batch, but political realities appear to make that nearly impossible.

Obama Thursday acknowledged that more than 50 freed Guantanamo prisoners have re-joined the fight against the U.S. He blames the Bush administration for the releases, but lawmakers argue that has the effect of undercutting the administration argument that the detainees would pose no threat to the American public.

The Attorney General spoke at the National Press Club in Washington Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Two months after Attorney General Eric Holder was widely criticized for his assertion that Americans are a "nation of cowards" for not openly discussing race, Holder said Wednesday he now sees some movement.

"I think there is a dialogue going on. But I'm still worried the comfort level isn't there," Holder told the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Holder told the organization's luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington the discomfort is particularly evident on the subject of affirmative action. He said citizens are reluctant to speak out, fearing that they'll be "seen as a racist."

Holder said he supports affirmative action and sees it as a way "to encourage diversity where everyone wins."

The attorney general said he believes career civil rights lawyers were "cut out of the process" in important decision-making by political appointees in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division during the Bush Administration, and wants that process reversed.

Holder, the nation's first African-American attorney general, said the election of Barack Obama reflects progress in race relations, but said statistics continue to show there is still a need for extending voting rights laws aimed at fighting discrimination.

"There are still battles to be fought, still hurdles to be overcome," he said.

Holder declined to comment on the case of former FBI agent Donald Rochon, who won a high profile lawsuit over alleged racial discrimination in the bureau, and is now challenging the FBI over his retirement benefits.

"All I know is what I've read in the paper about it," Holder said.

On other subjects, the attorney general:

–said he does not know where Guantanamo Bay detainees will be placed, and that no decisions have been made.

–promised Justice officials will follow the evidence and the law to determine whether Bush administration officials will be prosecuted, and "we'll see how things develop."

–asserted Vice President Cheney is "dead wrong" in claiming the country is less safe under the Obama administration. "We are as safe now as we have ever been," he said.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The FBI has failed to place the names of dozens of suspected terrorists on the government's watch list, an omission that could have "significant consequences to public safety," the Justice Department's watchdog says.

In a report released Wednesday, Inspector General Glenn Fine sharply criticizes the FBI for failing to add 35 terrorism subjects to the consolidated watch list, and for being slow to add many others.

He says he found at least 12 people - ones either not put on the list or added after an excessive delay - who may have been moving about the United States during the time they were not listed.

The report also says the FBI failed to remove several people from the list after they had been cleared.

The consolidated list is used to screen individuals seeking to enter the United States and those who are stopped by local police agencies. It was created in 2003 to bring order to the flurry of separate agency watch lists that quickly developed following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Federal law enforcement officials say only a small percentage of inquiries or stops of possible terrorists based on the list provide "positive hits" and few ever pan out.

But Fine was adamant that the potential for disaster is real. "The FBI needs to ensure that it makes timely nominations to the terrorist watch list. Failure to do so can have significant consequences to
public safety," he says in the report. "In addition, the FBI needs to do a better job of more timely removing individuals who no longer need to be on the watch list."

This most recent analysis comes more than a year after a March 2008 report in which Fine was critical of the FBI for using incomplete and outdated information in constructing watch list entries, and for its management of the Terrorist Screening Center, which consolidates watch-list information provided by several federal agencies.

The current unified watch list contains about 1.1 million names of people identified as known or suspected terrorists.

Officials say the FBI has provided about 68,000 identities to the list, but 35 percent were developed from old or non-terrorism FBI classifications.

Fine's latest report says that in about 15 percent of the sampling of 216 terrorism investigations that were reviewed, FBI counterterrorism officials had not nominated potentially dangerous individuals to the watch list.

In addition, more than three of every four terrorism suspects who were added to the list were not added promptly. The inspector general found the FBI took an average of 42 days to process names for the list, even though its standard calls for the action to be taken within 20 days.

On the question of removing cleared names from the list, the report says the sampling encountered nine such people, six of whom were unnecessarily delayed in their travels.

The FBI released a statement saying it has agreed to all 16 recommendations made by the report.

"We remain committed to improving our watch list policy and practices to ensure the proper balance between national security protection and the need for accurate, efficient and streamlined watchlisting processes," FBI Assistant Director John Miller said in the statement.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, was critical of the FBI following release of the report Wednesday.

"That the FBI continues to fail to place subjects of terrorism investigations on the watch list is unacceptable," Leahy said. "With such a significant number of individuals in question, it is important that the FBI gets this right."

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A federal judge Monday granted the government's request to dismiss all charges against two former pro-Israel lobbyists who had been accused of providing U.S. military secrets to Israel.

U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis dismissed the charges against Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman after Justice Department prosecutors Friday announced their case had fallen apart, and asked the court to drop the charges.

Prosecutors said the decision was forced by adverse appeals court rulings that would have required disclosing military secrets in court and would have required a higher burden of proof to win a conviction.

Defense attorneys said the defendants were innocent of the charges and insisted the case should never have been brought in the first place.

Holder did not indicate when and how the United States would release or criminally charge detainees on U.S. soil.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking in Berlin Wednesday night, appealed to European nations to accept some of the detainees held by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to help the Obama Administration close down the prison facility.

"I know that Europe did not open Guantanamo, and that in fact, a great many on this continent opposed it, Holder said in his address at the American Academy of Berlin. "To close Guantanamo, we must all make sacrifices and we must all be willing to make unpopular choices," Holder said.

"The United States is ready to do its part, and we hope that Europe will join us– not out of a sense of responsibility, but from a commitment to work with one of its oldest allies to confront one of the world's most pressing challenges," the Attorney General said.

Holder did not indicate when and how the United States would release or criminally charge detainees on U.S. soil.

Hours earlier, Holder told reporters that to date 30 of the remaining 241 Guantanamo detainees have been cleared to be released. U.S. officials have signalled they expect at least a few of the 17 Chinese Muslims held at the naval prison to be freed in the U.S.

In the Berlin speech, Holder was stinging in his criticism of the previous administration.

"Guantanamo has come to represent a time and an approach that we want to put behind us– a disregard for our centuries-long respect for the rule of law and a go-it-alone approach that alienated our allies, incited our adversaries and ultimately weakened our fight against terrorism," Holder declared.

Holder's decision to disclose the Administration's Guantanamo plans abroad is adding fuel to the partisan battles in Washington over whether Guantanamo should be closed at all, and whether the prisoners should be brought to the U.S. to be released or tried.

"It's ironic that the supposed 'most transparent' administration is providing information to foreign nations, while the American people are left in the dark," complained Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas. Smith, the top-ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, blasted Holder for both the substance and the location of his remarks.

"Releasing terrorists endangers American lives both here and abroad. The American people have a right to know how these decisions are being made; yet this Administration is sharing more information with foreign countries at overseas press conferences than with U.S. Members of Congress elected to represent the American people," Smith charged.

In his speech Wednesday, Holder did not mention an announcement by a judge in Spain to pursue an investigation of former Bush administration officials over the authorization of harsh interrogation techniques on detained terrorism suspects.

Asked about the matter at a morning meeting with reporters, Holder said he would not rule out cooperating with the Spanish magistrate, and said he would consider any requests from the court.

Holder faced some tough congressional questions Thursday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder was decidedly non-committal Thursday as he was buffeted on Capitol Hill by alternating demands to release - or not - more secret torture-related documents, and to prosecute - or not– Bush administration officials who wrote and approved those documents.

Holder was scheduled to appear before a House committee to discuss the Justice Department budget, but lawmakers threw away the script and overwhelmed him with pointed questions about the memos and accountability for the interrogation policies.

The toughest exchanges were with the top Republican in the session, Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia. Wolf insisted Holder provide still-secret documents which former Vice President Dick Cheney says detail valuable intelligence gained from the use of the harsh techniques against captured suspected terrorists.

"You have an obligation to release the rest of the memos," Wolf demanded.

But Holder said he had no knowledge of documents that might contain the information to which Cheney referred.

"I'm not familiar with those memos. I frankly have not seen them. I don't know that they exist," Holder said.

When Holder said he doesn't control all of the documents, Wolf complained Holder was trying to duck responsibility "just because the documents might be in a different building."

"It is certainly the intention of this administration not to play hide and seek, or not to release certain things," Holder replied. "It is not our intention to try to advance a political agenda or to try to hide things from the American people," he said.

As Republican lawmakers complained about the administration's release of four documents last week which authorized waterboarding and other controversial methods, Democrats praised the release.

Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wisconsin, said torture is illegal and those responsible for its use have to be held personally accountable.

Representatives of liberal organizations including MoveOn.org, Democrats.com and the American Civil Liberties Union were in the hearing room seeking to cajole Holder and other administration officials to appoint a special prosecutor to press charges against Bush Administration officials.

"The Justice Department is obligated to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate these crimes," said Mandy Simon of the ACLU.

She said representatives of the groups had provided to Assistant Attorney General Lee Loftus a disc containing the signatures of about 260,000 individuals demanding the outside prosecutor be appointed.

Holder was not asked whether he would seek an outside counsel, but indicated he was waiting for more information from pending reports.

He said a key report on the actions of Bush Justice Department officials involved in drafting the controversial legal guidance would be completed "soon" and he hopes to make it public.

Some groups want Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the issue.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that he would "follow the law" as he weighed potential prosecutions of Bush administration officials who authorized controversial harsh interrogation techniques.

In Holder's first public comments on the issue since President Obama's statements on the matter Tuesday, the attorney general responded to questions briefly and cautiously.

"We are going to follow the evidence, follow the law and take that where it leads. No one is above the law," Holder said at an Earth Day event.

Some human rights groups have demanded that Holder appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the matter, but the attorney general appears to be in no hurry to decide how to proceed.

Obama said Tuesday that the attorney general would ultimately decide whether to proceed with prosecutions of those in the Bush administration who drew up the legal basis for aggressive interrogation techniques.

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Attorney General Eric Holder helped honor Janet Reno, his former boss, Friday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Eight years and three months after then-Attorney General Janet Reno hugged her Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder goodbye, now Attorney General Holder warmly embraced his former boss at ceremonies honoring Reno's career achievements.

With dozens of former Clinton administration officials and a sprinkling of career Justice Department veterans looking on, Holder heaped high praise on Reno for her famous tenacity and tireless work schedule during an often controversial eight-year tenure.

"Janet is both tough and tender," Holder told an audience at which the American Judicature Society presented Reno its annual "Justice Award."

"I don't know how many times she said to me, "What's the right thing to do'," Holder said. "It was never what's the easy thing, what's the political thing, or the expedient thing to do," he said

Holder drew knowing laughter as he recalled her alternate roles as demanding taskmaster to senior officials, while displaying great kindness to children and patience with lower-level employees and their families.

Reno, who was stricken with Parkinson's disease while she was attorney general, was noticeably weak and displayed the lingering affects of health issues she has battled in recent years.

In her brief remarks, Reno revisited one of her trademark messages of the 1990s, urging the development of crime prevention programs to curb violence.

Reno's friend Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center praised Reno as he ticked off a list of challenges Reno had faced - not always successfully and not without controversy. He recalled the fire at Waco, Texas, the Oklahoma City bombing, the standoff with the Montana Freemen, the Unabomber search, black church bombings, the first World Trade Center bombing and the snatching of the Cuban boy Elian Gonzales in Miami.

In closing Holder referred to the portrait of Reno hanging in his office, Holder said, "Rest assured, you are always near by."

The US-flagged container ship Maersk Alabama and its American crew, seized by Somali pirates, docked Sunday in Kenya.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Federal law enforcement authorities are discussing what to do with the lone surviving pirate captured Sunday off the Somalia coast as a successful military rescue operation abruptly ended a five-day hostage standoff at sea.

U.S. government officials are weighing potential legal hurdles they may face if the young Somali captive is flown to New York or Washington to face federal criminal charges, according to sources familiar with the case.

Officially, the government is virtually mum on the discussions.

"The Justice Department continues to review the evidence and other issues to determine whether to seek prosecution of this individual in the United States," said Dean Boyd, spokesman for the Justice Department National Security Division.

Sources who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to discuss the matter said the detained Somali youth remains in military custody, but is likely to be turned over eventually to the FBI for transport to the United States.

With New York-based FBI agents assisting Nairobi-based agents in collecting evidence and conducting interviews, some officials say it appears most likely the captive initially would be flown to New York to stand trial. However, sources stress no decisions have been made on when or where the young pirate would face justice.

Investigators face the early and potentially difficult task of determining whether the Somali suspect is at least 18 years of age. Initial reports from the Horn of Africa have indicated the young man is anywhere from 16 to 19 years old.

Officials note authoritatively establishing his identity and date of birth in a lawless country where records are often lost or burned, if they existed at all, may be problematic.

Even if the Somali youth is determined to be a juvenile, he could be presented to a magistrate in a U.S. District Court. Justice Department records indicate such occurrences are rare, with juveniles accounting for less than 1 percent of criminal defendants.

The latest available figures show among the thousands of federal prisoners, about half of the 200-plus defendants 17 or younger are held for trial as adults, while a roughly equal number are detained as juveniles.

Whether adult or juvenile, the Somali captive could be charged under an international treaty to which the U.S. is a signatory that carries penalties of up to life in prison.

The 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation has been used to prosecute pirates in other countries. The Convention allows for pirates and hostage takers on the high seas to be prosecuted in any country which signed the treaty, without regard to which national flag a ship was flying.

Former FBI official and CNN Contributor Tom Fuentes, who supervised international operations, recalls FBI agents providing critical help in winning the conviction in a Kenya courtroom of 10 pirates captured in 2006 with the help of the U.S. military. The USS Nassau had come to the aid of an Indian ship on which pirates were holding 16 Indian hostages. Shots were fired, prompting the pirates to surrender.

"The government of Kenya wanted to prosecute the case, so the Justice Department and State Department agreed to that. We said 'Let's teach them to fish,'" Fuentes said.

He said FBI agents ended up spending six months working with Kenya authorities on how to conduct interviews, handle and protect evidence, and shape a prosecution that would stand up in any courtroom in the world. The pirates were convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Officials familiar with the current case say the lone Somali suspect in U.S. military custody could be turned over to Kenya or another country in the region if barriers to a U.S. prosecution appear to be daunting. However, because the ship was U.S.-flagged and the seized sea captain was a U.S. citizen, federal authorities will want to prosecute the case on U.S. soil if at all possible, according to one federal law enforcement official.

Another official said it was probable that if a charge against the Somali is filed in a U.S. court, the action would be filed under a court seal and kept secret from the public until the suspect suddenly appears in court to hear the charge read by a magistrate judge.

Officials indicate such developments are not likely to occur soon.

The US-flagged container ship Maersk Alabama and its American crew, seized by Somali pirates, docked Sunday in Kenya.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Federal law enforcement authorities are discussing what to do with the lone surviving pirate captured Sunday off the Somalia coast as a successful military rescue operation abruptly ended a five-day hostage standoff at sea.

U.S. government officials are weighing potential legal hurdles they may face if the young Somali captive is flown to New York or Washington to face federal criminal charges, according to sources familiar with the case.

Officially, the government is virtually mum on the discussions.

"The Justice Department continues to review the evidence and other issues to determine whether to seek prosecution of this individual in the United States," said Dean Boyd, spokesman for the Justice Department National Security Division.

Sources who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to discuss the matter said the detained Somali youth remains in military custody, but is likely to be turned over eventually to the FBI for transport to the United States.

With New York-based FBI agents assisting Nairobi-based agents in collecting evidence and conducting interviews, some officials say it appears most likely the captive initially would be flown to New York to stand trial. However, sources stress no decisions have been made on when or where the young pirate would face justice.

Investigators face the early and potentially difficult task of determining whether the Somali suspect is at least 18 years of age. Initial reports from the Horn of Africa have indicated the young man is anywhere from 16 to 19 years old.

Officials note authoritatively establishing his identity and date of birth in a lawless country where records are often lost or burned, if they existed at all, may be problematic.

Even if the Somali youth is determined to be a juvenile, he could be presented to a magistrate in a U.S. District Court. Justice Department records indicate such occurrences are rare, with juveniles accounting for less than 1 percent of criminal defendants.

The latest available figures show among the thousands of federal prisoners, about half of the 200-plus defendants 17 or younger are held for trial as adults, while a roughly equal number are detained as juveniles.

Whether adult or juvenile, the Somali captive could be charged under an international treaty to which the U.S. is a signatory that carries penalties of up to life in prison.

The 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation has been used to prosecute pirates in other countries. The Convention allows for pirates and hostage takers on the high seas to be prosecuted in any country which signed the treaty, without regard to which national flag a ship was flying.

Former FBI official and CNN Contributor Tom Fuentes, who supervised international operations, recalls FBI agents providing critical help in winning the conviction in a Kenya courtroom of 10 pirates captured in 2006 with the help of the U.S. military. The USS Nassau had come to the aid of an Indian ship on which pirates were holding 16 Indian hostages. Shots were fired, prompting the pirates to surrender.

"The government of Kenya wanted to prosecute the case, so the Justice Department and State Department agreed to that. We said 'Let's teach them to fish,'" Fuentes said.

He said FBI agents ended up spending six months working with Kenya authorities on how to conduct interviews, handle and protect evidence, and shape a prosecution that would stand up in any courtroom in the world. The pirates were convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Officials familiar with the current case say the lone Somali suspect in U.S. military custody could be turned over to Kenya or another country in the region if barriers to a U.S. prosecution appear to be daunting. However, because the ship was U.S.-flagged and the seized sea captain was a U.S. citizen, federal authorities will want to prosecute the case on U.S. soil if at all possible, according to one federal law enforcement official.

Another official said it was probable that if a charge against the Somali is filed in a U.S. court, the action would be filed under a court seal and kept secret from the public until the suspect suddenly appears in court to hear the charge read by a magistrate judge.

Officials indicate such developments are not likely to occur soon.

Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday announced a new head of the Office of Professional Responsibility.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – One day after a federal judge erased the verdict against former Senator Ted Stevens, and criticized the Justice Department's internal ethics office, Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday announced a new head of that office.

Aides to Holder said the change at the helm of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and other announced personnel changes have nothing to do with the Office's internal investigation into the mishandling of the Stevens case.

"It is absolutely not related," said Matthew Miller, the top spokesman for Holder.

OPR, as it is known in Washington, is responsible for investigating allegations of impropriety and misconduct by Justice Department attorneys, and recommending disciplinary action.

All three changes announced involve career Justice Department officials familiar to Holder from his days as Deputy Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Holder announced one of his long-time associates - Marshall Jarrett, who heads OPR - will take over as Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. The important post oversees and coordinates activities of the more than 90 U.S. Attorneys offices across the nation.

Officials said Jarrett had been interested in a change after a decade overseeing the ethics unit.

Ken Melson, who heads the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys will serve as acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Mary Patrice Brown who has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney heading up the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia will become acting head of OPR.

"These extremely experienced and capable long time career prosecutors are uniquely qualified to lead these important offices," Holder said in a written statement released by aides.

The changes, described as "a coincidence of timing" come a day after U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan openly complained about the failure of the Office of Professional Responsibility to say anything in the six months that it has been investigating a series of errors by the prosecution team in the botched trial of Sen. Stevens.

A new set of Justice prosecutors apologized to the judge for the government's problems, including critical failures to provide evidence that could have been helpful to Stevens' defense.

But the apology did not quiet the angry judge.

Sullivan announced he was initiating an independent investigation of the original Stevens trial team, and named a non-government independent counsel.

He said he was doing so because the public has a right to know what happened, and he hadn't heard anything from OPR about the internal investigation.

"The silence is deafening," Sullivan declared.

The Justice Department did not respond to Sullivan, but promised to cooperate with the court's investigation.

In his remarks, President Obama seized on Eric Holder's casual declaration in December that the president-elect might not be able to compete with him in roundball.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - When President Barack Obama attended the formal installation of Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday, the two men paid homage to the rule of law, but gave particular attention to the courts - the hard courts and their respective skills thereon.

In his remarks, Obama seized on Holder's casual declaration in December that the president-elect might not be able to compete with him in roundball.

"In fact, several months ago Eric even had the audacity to comment to a reporter on my basketball skills," the president noted. "He said, and I quote, here's what he said: 'I am not sure he is ready for my New York game.' We'll see about that Mr. Attorney General."

The challenge drew howls of laughter from a packed auditorium filled with dignitaries, Washington lawyers, political supporters and Justice officials.

So did Holder's response minutes later.

"Let me just depart here and say that he is never going to see my New York game," Holder vowed. "He's got 10 years on me, he works out. I am the coach of the team on which he will be playing - nothing more than that.

"But had I been 10 years younger," Holder concluded amid wild applause.

Basketball is a favorite subject and pastime for the two, and for some of their colleagues in the administration.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine both played for Harvard, and Duncan played basketball professionally abroad. Fine, a Harvard co-captain, was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs but opted for a Rhodes scholarship.

White House aide Reggie Love played for Duke. National Security Advisor James Jones once played for Georgetown.

Among them, only Obama has made his NCAA tournament bracket picks

The installation Friday was a ceremonial event; Holder's official swearing-in took place February 3.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – One day after the Justice Department filed suit against the state of New York over the counting of military absentee ballots in next week's special election, it announced an agreement with state officials that would extend the deadline for those voters to mid-April.

The department's lawsuit against the state and Gov. David Paterson, filed in federal district court yesterday, charged that nine of the 10 counties in New York's 20th congressional district had not given military voters enough time to fill out their ballots and return them before the deadline. The original deadline - seven days after the election - will be extended by another six days if the agreement is approved in federal court.

The new deadline of April 13 would bring the state into compliance with federal law that requires each military voter be given at least 30 days to fill out their ballot.

One year after then-presidential candidate Barack Obama called for an investigation into passport snooping of candidates' passport files by State Department employees, a second of three workers fired and prosecuted over the incident has been sentenced.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - One year after then-presidential candidate Barack Obama called for an investigation into passport snooping of candidates' passport files by State Department employees, a second of three workers fired and prosecuted over the incident has been sentenced.

Dwayne Cross, 41, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was sentenced to 12 months of probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service. Cross, a contract employee with access to the private files, pled guilty to accessing passport applications of more than 150 politicians, actors, musicians, athletes, models and other celebrities, the Justice Department announced.

"Cross admitted that he had no official government reason to access and view these passport applications, but that his sole purpose in accessing and viewing these passport applications was idle curiosity," the Justice Department statement said.

The Justice Department, citing a federal privacy law, would not identify the names of individuals whose files Cross had accessed.

The investigation was triggered in March, 2008, when the State Department acknowledged the files of Senators and presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain had been improperly accessed.

The State Department spokesman at the time confirmed Barack Obama's file had been viewed three times by State Department contractors. Spokesman Sean McCormack said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had personally apologized to the candidates and promised an investigation.

The files contain passport applications, extensive private personal data, and other records with biographical information.

Former foreign service officer and intelligence analyst Lawrence Yontz pled guilty to a similar offense and was sentenced in December to one year of probation. Former foreign service officer Gerald Leuders has also pled guilty in the case and is awaiting sentencing.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - In a dramatic break with the Bush administration, the Justice Department on Friday announced it is doing away with the designation of "enemy combatant," which allowed the United States to hold suspected terrorists at length without criminal charges.

In a court filing in Washington, the Justice Department said it is developing a new standard for the government's authority to hold detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.

Full story

Large holes in the Obama administration were filled Friday as Attorney General Eric Holder personally swore in his new deputy attorney general and associate attorney general.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Large holes in the Obama administration were filled Friday as Attorney General Eric Holder personally swore in his new deputy attorney general and associate attorney general, who had been confirmed by the Senate one day earlier.

The powerful second- and third-ranking Justice Department posts had been temporarily filled by career officials while Republican senators slowed the confirmation of David Ogden and Thomas Perrelli over questions about pornography and the right to die.

"You don't know how good this feels. I now have a right arm and a left arm," Holder told a crowd gathered for the swearing-in ceremony in Holder's office.

The swearing-in represented a reunion of Clinton administration lawyers. All three men had been top subordinates of then-Attorney General Janet Reno who had an often strained relationship with the White House over Justice Department-backed investigations of the president and Hillary Clinton and other administration officials.

Twenty-seven GOP senators had opposed Ogden's nomination for the deputy's job for his views on pornography and other divisive issues. Among Democrats, only Sen. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania had opposed the nomination.

Ogden had vowed at his confirmation hearings to vigorously enforce pornography laws and child protection laws despite his staunch advocacy of free speech rights for pornographers in his legal representation of their industry.

Perrelli drew opposition from 20 GOP senators in the floor vote Thursday. Much of the concern stemmed from Perrelli's representation of the husband of Terri Schiavo, who fought to have her removed from a life-support system after she had spent years in what courts deemed was a "persistent vegetative state."

On Friday, Ogden sought to put the partisanship "of this recent period" in the past, saying Americans have a "great common interest as brothers and sisters" in preserving the rule of law.

In a moment that brought roars of laughter, Ogden recalled that a young man who once worked for his Greek immigrant grandfather in a New York candy store - and quit after only one day - turned out to be none other than Tom Perrelli.

"I hope to make it longer here," Perrelli replied.

Holder told the crowd it is "time to get to work," and took a parting shot at the recently departed Bush administration.

"There's an awful lot of work that we have to do," he said." There are things, quite frankly, that we have to reverse, policy changes that we have to make, and I am very happy to be surrounded by these two great lawyers."

Led by Attorney General Eric Holder, the Obama administration's task force on Guantanamo Bay met Monday in Washington.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday called together several top administration officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, to consider what to do with the detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison.

The unannounced meeting of the Guantanamo Bay Detainee Review Task Force was convened at the Justice Department.

It also included Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, CIA Director Leon Panetta, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, White House Counsel Gregory Craig, and Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Randy Beers, representing DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.

"As coordinator of the task force, the attorney general discussed with his counterparts the process that will be used for carrying out the president's order mandating a review of all Guantanamo Bay detainees and closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within a year," said a statement issued by the Justice Department.

"They also discussed standards for detainee review, factors that will be considered in prioritizing detainee reviews, and progress that has been achieved thus far," the statement said.

The meeting on the complex and politically sensitive issue was chaired by Holder, and included his executive director of the task force, Justice Department counterterrorism chief Matthew Olsen.

Holder traveled to Guantanamo Bay two weeks ago to tour the facility, and returned saying the prisoners were being treated well, and he was "impressed by the professionalism" of the prison staff personnel. Holder also stressed how difficult the process would be to sort out the remaining 240-plus prisoners. He said he expected the review process to take much of the year, but added he was committed to keeping the president's promise that the facility would be closed by next January.

Attorney General Eric Holder says the government can fight terrorism while also honoring the Constitution.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Obama administration Monday released nine previously secret internal Justice Department memos and opinions defining the legal limits of government power in combating terrorism.

The Bush administration had refused to make the documents public, rejecting demands from congressional Democrats.

The release ends a tug-of-war over copies of controversial legal guidance from the post-9/11 period that advocated greatly expanded executive power to combat terrorism.

Among the documents from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is a 2001 memo declaring that in terrorism cases the military may conduct searches in the United States without a warrant if approved by the president.

"We conclude that the president has ample constitutional and statutory authority to deploy the military against international or foreign terrorists operating within the United States," wrote John Yoo, then a deputy assistant attorney general. "We further believe that the use of such military force generally is consistent with constitutional standards, and that it need not follow the exact procedures that govern law enforcement operations." Read the memo

The October 23, 2001, memo was sent to then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales. Gonzales later became Bush's attorney general.

Full story

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder will be the cabinet member not attending President Obama’s speech tonight to Congress in the House chamber for security reasons, a Justice Department official tells CNN.

The official said Holder will be staying at an undisclosed location.

By tradition, one cabinet member does not attend such speeches in case of disaster, since so many other government leaders are vulnerable in one place. Customarily, the absent official is a member of the national security team.

So which member of former President Bush’s cabinet stayed away from his final “State of the Union” last year?

Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior, did not attend the president’s speech in 2008. The previous year, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stayed away.

Other former cabinet officials to miss the annual speech:

2006: Jim Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs

2005: Don Evans, Secretary of Commerce

2004: Don Evans, Secretary of Commerce

2003: John Ashcroft, Attorney General

(Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta also did not attend, due to health problems)

2002: Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior

2001: Anthony J. Principi, Secretary of Veterans Affairs

2000: Bill Richardson, Secretary of Energy

1999: Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

1998: William Daley, Secretary of Commerce

Attorney General Eric Holder is visiting the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder and top aides are touring the U.S. military prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to help advance the administration's plans to empty the facility of detainees within one year.

Holder and a team of five others involved in the process of deciding what to do with the detainees arrived mid-morning and were immediately briefed by military officials, according to Holder's chief spokesman Matt Miller.

"He's being briefed on case histories and discussing the charges that were pending for detainees before the suspensions," Miller said. "He's touring all the buildings and the expeditionary legal complex which houses the military courtrooms," Miller said.

Holder is accompanied by Matthew Olsen, who is acting assistant attorney general for the National Security Division. Holder named Olsen Friday as the executive director of the Guantanamo Review Task Force which will recommend whether the 245 remaining detainees should be removed to other countries, be released, be tried on criminal charges in civilian courts in the United States or should be tried in before military courts.

Also traveling with the attorney general are his chief of staff Kevin Ohlsen and counselor Amy Jeffres, Associate Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and Alan Liotta from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Holder is scheduled to arrive back in Washington late Monday night, and the Justice Department will have no further information on his trip for at least a day or two, it said. Miller said Holder is likely to discuss his trip with reporters later this week, but no earlier than Wednesday.

Aides said it was strictly coincidental that Holder arrived at Guantanamo Bay just hours after British officials removed suspected terrorist Binyam Mohamed from the facility and flew him to London on a British plane. Mohamed has claimed he was tortured while in U.S. custody.

Updated 12:35 p.m.

Former detainees pray near Kaubul in 2005 following their release from U.S. custody at Bagram Air Base.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Obama administration told a federal court late Friday it will maintain the Bush administration's position that battlefield detainees held without charges by the United States in Afghanistan are not entitled to constitutional rights to challenge their detention.

"Having considered the matter, the government adheres to its previously articulated position," said a Justice Department document filed in federal court in Washington.

In a controversial 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court last year ruled that detainees held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay had a right under the constitution to challenge their continued detention. However, the court did not say whether it applied to prisoners in other locations abroad, including Afghanistan.

Five prisoners held at Bagram Air Base, backed by human rights groups, have gone to court to claim the same rights as the men detained in Guantanamo Bay.

The new administration, which was given a month by a federal judge to declare whether the government wants to change its position, has now indicated it will continue to argue that it is against its security interests to release enemy combatants in a war zone.

Full Story

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder disclosed Wednesday that he will travel to the Guantanamo Bay military detention center next week as a "first step" in a process to determine what to do with detainees held there.

Holder told reporters after a speech on civil rights that he will make the trip to Cuba on Monday with the Justice Department's point man on counterterrorism, Matt Olsen, who serves as acting assistant attorney general for the National Security Division.

Spokesman Dean Boyd termed the trip "the beginning of a review process."

Holder told reporters review of the Guantanamo detainees' individual cases has begun and officials are "making progress," but he declined to be more specific.

Attorney general Eric Holder has instructed the department's top lawyers to begin the review promptly.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder Monday ordered a complete review of all cases in which the Justice Department under his Republican predecessors had invoked claims of a "state secrets" privilege to protect classified government programs from lawsuits.

Holder has instructed the department's top lawyers to begin the review promptly "to ensure that it is being invoked only in legally appropriate situations," department spokesman Matt Miller said..

Holder's instructions stressed, "It is vital that we protect information that if released could jeopardize national security, but the Justice Department will ensure that it is not invoked to hide from the American people information about their government's actions that they have a right to know," Miller said.

Holder's action came as his prosecutors were in a federal appeals court in San Francisco to argue in support of the Justice Department's previous invocation of the state secret defense in a legal challenge to the government's "extraordinary rendition" program in which foreign terrorism suspects were flown from one country to another for questioning, sometimes where harsher procedures could be used.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has been pressing the Obama administration to drop the state secrets claim, issued a blistering statement Monday.

"Eric Holder's Justice Department stood up in court today and said that it would continue the Bush policy of invoking state secrets to hide the reprehensible history of torture, rendition, and the most grievous human rights violations committed by the American government. This is not change. This is more of the same," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero.

"Candidate Obama ran on a platform that would reform the abuse of state secrets, but President Obama's Justice Department has disappointingly reneged on that important civil liberties issue," Romero said.

Holder's confirmation has been held up.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The initial confirmation vote for Eric Holder, President Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, was postponed for a week Wednesday after a rancorous meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Republicans, who want to question Holder about his role in a controversial presidential pardon when he worked in the Clinton administration, used a procedure that allows them to put off the vote.

A clearly agitated Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat and chairman of the committee, slammed his gavel and walked out after acknowledging that Republicans had the right to ask for the delay.

Mark Filip is a Bush holdover.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Acting Attorney General Mark Filip who served as Deputy Attorney General under former President Bush has taken the reigns at the Justice Department while awaiting the confirmation of Eric Holder.

A Senate committee is currently scheduled to consider Holder's nomination as Attorney General later Wednesday, but some Republicans on the panel have indicated they plan to seek a delay because of lingering questions about Holder's role as Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton Administration.

The balking Republican lawmakers have indicated they want additional answers from Holder, who appeared before the panel last Thursday. The threat of a delay prompted a strong reaction from Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-VT.

"It would look like a horrible double standard for those who enthusiastically voted unanimously for Alberto Gonzales to turn down the first African-American, or hold up the first African American to be Attorney General," Leahy said.

Some GOP congressional aides have privately pointed to Democratic opposition to the more recent nomination of retired judge Michael Mukasey, whose nomination was saved only by a dramatic break with Leahy by Democratic Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California.

Democrats uniformly support the Holder nomination, and have the needed votes to pass the nomination, but rules may allow Republican objections to delay the proceedings.

Meanwhile, Filip and a cadre of career lawyers kept a low profile as they ran the wide-ranging functions of the dozens of Justice Department Divisions and Offices Wednesday.

Only the Acting Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division issued a public statement. Loretta King vowed the Department would continue to prosecute police who harm inmates.

King cited a jury conviction last week of a former Florida State Prison official who poured scalding water on a prisoner to punish him for feigning injury and lying on his jail cell floor. Paul Tillis was found guilty of pouring near scalding water on the victim's chest and then failing to arrange medical treatment for the second degree burns which resulted from his actions.

"While the vast majority of law enforcement officers carry out their in a lawful and professional manner, the "Department of Justice will continue to vigorously prosecute those who cross the line and commit this type of unlawful act," King said.

The former prison official faces up to ten years in prison and $250,000 fine.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President-elect Obama has asked all U.S. Attorneys to "continue to serve for the time being" and is not demanding immediate wholesale resignations of Bush political appointees, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

In addition, Obama's transition team has asked current Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip, also a Bush appointee, to serve as Acting Attorney General replacing outgoing Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

Filip, a former federal judge from Chicago who has served in the number two position at the Justice Department for eight months, is expected to head the Justice Department until Attorney General designee Eric Holder is confirmed by the Senate.

The handling of U.S. Attorney departures is politically sensitive, after grumbling caused by the immediate firing of all but one U.S. Attorney by President Clinton when he assumed office, and outright anger over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys by the Bush Administration two years ago for what were widely viewed as politically-motivated dismissals.

Career Justice attorney Ken Melson, who was appointed by the Bush Administration to the political post of Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, will remain at least temporarily in the job which coordinates policies for all U.S. Attorney offices.

Among several other temporary holdovers in political jobs are U.S. Marshals Service Director John Clark and Acting DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart. Career attorney Rita Glavin will initially lead the important Criminal Division as Acting Attorney General.

Several officials from the Clinton Administration are in line for positions in the Obama Justice Department.

Holder faces confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday and Friday and is widely expected to be confirmed despite pointed questions he is expected to face from committee Republicans.

Sen. Leahy, right, is rounding up support for Attorney General-designee Eric Holder, left.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Senate chairman who will preside over the potentially bumpy confirmation hearings of Attorney General-designate Eric Holder continued his public campaign on Holder's behalf Tuesday by producing two prominent Republicans who back his confirmation.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, was joined by former GOP Sen. John Danforth, and former DEA Administrator and Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson. All praised Holder's ability to exhibit the necessary independence from the Obama White House.

At the heart of that issue is Holder's decision to acquiesce to the White House when President Bill Clinton granted a controversial pardon to fugitive Marc Rich in the final hours of Clinton's presidency.

Despite repeated predictions of Holder's confirmation, Leahy appeared frustrated by the pointed challenge to the nomination by the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

"I totally disagree with him," Leahy told reporters.

He took a swipe at Specter, saying, "Maybe it's just a coincidence" that Republicans began to attack Holder's nomination immediately after former White House political operative Karl Rove urged scrutiny of it. Leahy referred to
Specter as "the leading supporter of Alberto Gonzales," who was narrowly confirmed as attorney general in 2005.

"To those who seek to question his character I would point out that it was Mr. Holder who urged the expansion of the Ken Starr investigation. It was Mr. Holder who prosecuted Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski. It was Mr. Holder who recommended that a special prosecutor investigate President Clinton's interior secretary, Bruce Babbitt," Leahy said.

The hearings into the Holder nomination are scheduled to begin Thursday morning in the historic Senate Caucus Room where the Watergate hearings and other high-profile hearings have unfolded.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A federal court jury in Washington Friday convicted David Safavian, a former associate of disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, on four of five criminal counts.

The verdict marks the second time a jury has found Safavian guilty of one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements to federal investigators.

Safavian, 42, is a former chief of staff at the General Services Administration charged with trying to cover up his role in a lavish Abramoff-sponsored golf trip to Scotland and Abramoff's dealings with the GSA.

Former Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney, who accepted the expenses-paid golf trip from Abramoff, pleaded guilty to corruption charges in 2006.

Abramoff is currently serving a four-year prison sentence after his guilty plea on corruption charges.

Safavian's 2006 conviction, also on four of five counts, was overturned last summer by an appeals court. If this conviction is upheld he would face a maximum of five years in prison on each of the four counts.

He received an 18-month sentence after his previous conviction.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, left, will oversee Holder's hearing before the Judiciary Committee .

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Attorney general nominee Eric Holder is leaving a lucrative job as a high-powered Washington lawyer to take a modest government salary as the nation's top law enforcement official - but he won't have to pinch pennies.

According to documents released Monday by a Senate panel, Holder has accumulated assets worth more than $5.7 million dollars. The documents made public by the Senate Judiciary Committee show that if Holder is confirmed, he will give up an annual salary of more than $2 million dollars to accept the government post which pays a comparatively paltry $186,600.

The information Holder provided for his confirmation hearings shows he received $2,154,364 as a partner in the prestigious Washington firm Covington and Burling this year. Next year he will receive even more, even though he will no longer be working there.

"Upon my separation from the firm, and prior to assuming the duties of attorney general, I will receive repayment of my partner capital account ($632,767), deferred compensation from the firm's prior fiscal year ($680,820), a pro-rata share of partner compensation for work I performed in the current fiscal year ($484,073) and a separation payment to be paid prior to or immediately following my separation ($1,344,050)," Holder wrote.

Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, announced Monday the confirmation hearing tentatively scheduled for January 7 has been delayed until January 15 to accommodate Republican requests.

Leahy complained that Republicans are delaying a process that may prevent Holder from being in place at the Justice Department when President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in on January 20.

Democrats control the Senate and are expected to approve the nomination, but some Republicans have raised concerns. In particular, conservative lawmakers say they intend to examine Holder's controversial role in approving over the objections of federal prosecutors a pardon of fugitive Marc Rich in Bill Clinton's final hours as president.

Federal officials are bracing for a massive turnout for Barack Obama's presidential inauguration.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Federal and local officials are bracing for an expected massive turnout for the January inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, but say predictions of 4 or 5 million visitors to Washington are too high.

However, authorities from several law enforcement and transportation agencies declined to offer an alternative estimate for the January 20 swearing-in and parade.

"We continue to check on expected planes and buses and hotel rooms, and I can say there's just nothing to suggest 4 million. But if it happens we'll be prepared to deal with that," said Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service.

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For crowd control, the Metropolitan Washington Police Department has arranged for 4,000 police from departments outside Washington to match the 4,000 Washington police officers assigned exclusively to the inauguration.

Planners are looking for parking for an expected 10,000 tour buses from outside the Washington area. That's about 10 times the number of tour buses that flood the nation's capital annually for the Cherry Blossom Festival. So far, officials have found about 75 percent of needed bus parking, but space is becoming precious. Shuttle arrangements to sports stadium locations in Maryland are under consideration.

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Fosella was sentenced to five days in jail for driving under the influence of alcohol.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella of New York was sentenced to five days in jail Monday for a drunken-driving incident in Virginia that led to revelations he had fathered a child from an extramarital affair.

Fossella was given the maximum sentence of five days behind bars by Alexandria, Virginia, General District Judge Becky Moore. She rejected Fossella's arguments the device that measured his blood alcohol level at 0.17 percent at the time of his arrest had been faulty. Virginia law requires that anyone with a blood alcohol content level of 0.15 percent or more must serve five days in jail.

Fossella has 10 days to appeal the sentence. If he does not, the Republican congressman from Staten Island will have to report to the Alexandria jail on December 19 to serve his sentence.

Fossella's arrest led to the public disclosure that he was en route from a Washington bar to help an ill daughter who lived with her mother, a Virginia woman with whom the lawmaker had had a lengthy relationship.

Fossella, who has a wife and three children in New York, was forced to abandon re-election plans after the scandal broke. His seat in the new Congress was won by a Democrat.

The Justice Department annnounced an indictment against Arizona Rep. Richard Renzi Thursday.

(CNN) - Rep. Richard Renzi of Arizona has been reindicted on 43 criminal counts by a federal grand jury in Arizona, adding racketeering and tax allegations to previous charges, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

The superseding indictment stems from a land deal that allegedly netted Renzi more than $700,000 in exchange for supporting legislation. It comes as Renzi, a Republican, prepares to leave office and face a criminal trial.

He announced he would not seek re-election after he was indicted last February.

Three other defendants also were named in the new indictment.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A federal judge in Washington Monday allowed two private watchdog groups to sue the White House in a case involving potentially millions of missing e-mails.

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy rejected a Bush administration request to throw out a suit by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive. The government had argued the courts do not have the authority to require the White House to try to retrieve the e-mails in question.

CREW and the National Security Archive are trying to force White House officials to order the attorney general to initiate action to restore the deleted e-mails before they become irrecoverable.

"This is a huge victory for government transparency and the American people," said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan.

The apparently missing messages cover a period between 2003 and 2005, a period during which there was not a functioning backup system.

The case does not stem from a specific investigation, but highlights the ongoing battle over the limits of executive power. The watchdog groups claim the White House failure to recover, restore, and preserve electronic communications violates the Federal Records Act. The White House maintains its compliance with the Federal Records Act is not subject to review by the courts.

Meanwhile, in a separate lawsuit, a Washington appeals court prepared to hear arguments by the government and CREW this Friday over whether the government is required to provide the e-mails under the Freedom of Information Act.

(CNN) - FBI agents investigating the hacking of a personal email account belonging to Alaska governor Sarah Palin have searched the home of the son of a Democratic state legislator, federal law enforcement sources said Monday.

The search occurred late Saturday and early Sunday at the Knoxville home of David Kernell, 20, son of Memphis Democrat Mike Kernell.

Officially, Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney acknowledged Monday only that "investigative activity occurred" over the weekend. But three sources familiar with the case confirmed the search of Kernell's residence. No documents have been made public showing what equipment or evidence agents had seized.

The sources requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing and no charges have yet been filed.

Although charges may be filed, none was believed to be imminent, according to the sources.
Palin's email account was hacked, and some of the contents were displayed briefly last week on an Internet website.

Although the displayed messages did not contain significant political disclosures, the McCain-Palin campaign issued a statement calling the incident "a shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law."

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A federal judge Monday promised to rule "as soon as possible" on a Congressional demand for White House documents and testimony, but not before expressing reluctance to do so, and scolding both parties for refusing to compromise.

"I didn't volunteer for this," lamented U.S. District Court Judge John Bates during a contentious three-hour hearing focusing on the balance of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

The battle stems from the House investigation of the controversial firing of nine U.S. attorneys by the Justice Department.

The Democratic-controlled House asked the judge to enforce a subpoena ordering former White House Counsel Harriet Miers to testify, and for Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolton to produce internal documents on the issue.

The White House has refused to hand over the material, asserting executive privilege.

Justice Department attorney Carl Nichols, representing the government, said the judge could avoid "putting his thumb on the scale" by throwing out the lawsuit, but that a decision to support Congress would "fundamentally alter the separation of powers."

White House Counsel Fred Fielding and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, were among hundreds of onlookers in the ceremonial courtroom three blocks from Capitol Hill.

Bates appeared eager to find a solution which would avoid the court's intervention. He suggested sending the parties away to try further negotiations, but lawyers for the two sides accused one another of complete intransigence.

At one point, when House counsel Irv Nathan said Congress had the authority to send the Sargeant-at-Arms to arrest Miers, Bates suggested perhaps they should have done so.

Bates also indicated that it would be possible for the government to simply run out the clock. He said an appeal is certain no matter which way he rules, and the subpoena will expire when the current Congress leaves office in December.

Nathan acknowledged the outcome of the November elections will determine whether the next Congress chooses to re-new the subpoena.

Bates said he would give the matter the "time and attention it deserves" before ruling.

The White House won a ruling in federal court Monday in a lawsuit about its computer system and e-mails.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The White House Office of Administration is not required to turn over records about a trove of possibly missing emails, a federal judge in Washington ruled Monday.

A ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly says the agency does not have "substantial independent authority" so is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Therefore, the White House does not have to disclose documents relating to its troubled e-mail system. That system developed problems which may have caused millions of White House emails to be unaccounted for.

The watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington–known as CREW– had sued under the Freedom of Information Act. The group expressed disappointment in the ruling and said it is appealing the decision.

"The Bush administration is using the legal system to prevent the American people from discovering the truth about the millions of missing White House e-mails," said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan.

In January, the White House said it cannot rule out that it may have lost certain e-mails. The possibly lost e-mails are from a period in which the United States decided to go to war with Iraq, White House officials leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson and the Justice Department started a criminal investigation into who leaked the information.

The White House has denied any evidence, including e-mails, have been destroyed.

Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigned in South Dakota last week.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Federal election monitors are being dispatched to South Dakota to protect Native American voting rights on Tuesday, the final day of primary elections in the Democratic presidential nomination race.

Officials in the Justice Department's civil rights division announced they would send an unspecified number of observers "to watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations" in Todd, Shannon, Bennett, Jackson, and Mellette counties in South Dakota.

Native Americans comprise more than 94 percent of the population in Shannon County, and 85 percent of the population in Todd County. More than 40 percent of residents in the two counties live below the poverty line.

Native Americans make up more than 8 percent of the state's population, making them the largest minority group in South Dakota.

Several voting rights lawsuits have been filed in Todd and Shannon counties, which fall under a section of the Voting Rights Act which prohibits officials from changing voting procedures without Justice Department approval.

Courts have noted low voter turnout and found discriminatory efforts to dilute Native American representation through redistricting.

As is customary, Justice Department officials would not disclose exactly where the monitors will be nor what they will be looking for, but said any problems spotted would be reported promptly to government civil rights attorneys.

The Justice Department said it is also sending monitors to Perry County, Alabama; Alameda and Riverside Counties in California; Salem County, New Jersey; and Cibola and Sandoval counties in New Mexico to protect minority voting rights in Tuesday balloting.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - An exhaustive Justice Department investigation has concluded the FBI did not participate in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists detained in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, or Iraq, and generally reported such potentially illegal actions by the CIA and Defense Department.

In "only a few instances" did FBI agents use techniques that were not approved by FBI policies, according to the long-awaited report by the Justice Department's inspector general.

But the Inspector General Glenn Fine criticized the FBI for being slow in developing and distributing its interrogation policy to deployed FBI interrogators. Although the decision to avoid use of harsh techniques was made by the FBI in August 2002, it was not put in writing until 2004, along with the requirement that the harsh techniques used by other agencies should be reported to the FBI chain of command.

That 2002 decision by FBI Director Robert Mueller was that the FBI would adhere to the restrictions used in interrogations of detainees within the United States. Those techniques prohibit coercion, abuse or threats.

The FBI policy is based on the belief that building rapport with the prisoners is the best way to gain intelligence information, the report says.

The FBI issued a statement saying it is "gratified" by the report's findings, and Mueller promised the FBI will continue to use "rapport-building techniques in interviews" of detainees.

The inspector general's investigators interviewed virtually all of the more than 1,000 FBI employees who were deployed to one or more of the military zones between 2001 and 2004, the report says.

The vast majority of those agents continued to adhere to FBI policies and separated themselves from other agencies' interrogators who were using non-FBI-approved techniques, the report says.

However, the report lists "a few incidents" that "clearly would not be permissible for FBI agents to use in the United States," including isolating one prisoner from human contact and participating in an interrogation in which detainees were "given a 'drink of water' in a forceful and inappropriate manner."

It also lists incidents that, while not "clear violations of FBI policy," should have raised questions.

"A few FBI agents," it says, participated in a program of subjecting detainees to frequent cell relocations. In another case, two agents had joined in an interview in which a detainee was "short-chained" with hands and feet close together for several hours, during which the prisoner urinated on himself.

FBI agents reported non-FBI interrogators engaged primarily in sleep deprivation or sleep disruption techniques. That included use of bright lights, loud music and extreme temperatures "to keep detainees awake or otherwise wear down their resistance."

No FBI agents witnessed the abuses at Abu Ghraib that were photographed and became public. However, the report says, one FBI agent said he witnessed a single naked Abu Ghraib prisoner forced to roll between rows of cells. He did not report the incident because he did not know if it was an acceptable technique.

The report said FBI personnel did not witness the controversial waterboarding technique, which the CIA has confirmed was used on three prisoners.

The FBI disputed techniques used by the military and the CIA in questioning top terror suspects Abu Zubaydah and Yousef al-Qarani, he report says. In one instance, an agent objected to use of a snarling dog in the interrogation of al-Qarani.

Despite the criticism, at the conclusion of his three-year investigation, the inspector general offered the FBI modest praise.

"We believe that while the FBI could have provided clearer guidance earlier, and while the FBI could have pressed harder for resolution of concerns about detainee treatment by other agencies, the FBI should be credited for its conduct and professionalism in detainee interrogations in the military zones in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and in generally avoiding participation in detainee abuse," the report concludes.

The inspector general's investigation did nothing to quiet the FBI's chief critics. The American Civil Liberties Union said the FBI leaders had failed their obligation to "bring an end to the abuse and application of illegal interrogation methods."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, chairman of a subcommittee that oversees the FBI, criticized then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and his deputy, Larry Thompson. Nadler said FBI agents' objections to certain interrogation methods "fell on deaf ears."

"The admirable actions taken by those brave FBI agents willing to speak out were undermined by those who led them," he said.