Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft Monday requesting that the Department of Justice “produce any records relating to Deputy Attorney General (Jamie) Gorelick’s involvement in the development and promulgation of Attorney General Reno’s Procedures for Contacts Between the FBI and the Criminal Division Concerning Foreign Intelligence and Foreign Counterintelligence Investigations.” The letter was in response to the 9/11 Commission’s failure to hear testimony from a key Clinton administration Justice Department official, preventing the Congress from receiving a full accounting of intelligence and law enforcement procedures that led to the tragic attacks. In the letter, the Senators wrote that, “It is clear that the relationship between the intelligence and law enforcement communities in the years before September 11th must be fully examined.” Eleven Senators on Friday wrote the chairman of the 9/11 Commission, urging the panel to hear testimony from former deputy U.S. attorney general, and current Commission member, Jamie Gorelick. Over the weekend, that request was denied, preventing a full and complete picture of the Clinton administration’s counterterrorism policy. Specifically, the Senators were looking for information on decisions that led to the “wall” preventing intelligence and law-enforcement organizations from fully cooperating in anti-terror efforts. Sen. Graham chairs the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Corrections and Victim’s Rights. Sen. Cornyn chairs the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights & Property Rights. ####