Conyers Responds to WH Granting Committee Access to Wiretapping Documents

(Washington, DC) - The White House has agreed to provide the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees access to classified documents concerning the NSA warrantless wiretapping program. As applied to the Judiciary committee, ten Democratic members, nine Republican members, and staff with appropriate security clearance would be "read into" the program next week and have access to documents including legal memoranda about the program and communications with telephone companies. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) released the following statment:

We remain disappointed that the administration has refused to make documents on its warrantless surveillance program available to all Judiciary Committee members, and that some materials on this and other administration programs are still being withheld from the full Committee. However, we will begin reviewing the documents to gain more insight on the White House's legal rationale in implementing its domestic wiretapping program and the role of the telecommunication companies.

##110-JUD-020807##