Quote:

Matter-eater Man said:The New York Times reported on Sunday that James Comey, a deputy to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, was concerned about the legality of the NSA program and refused to extend it in 2004. White House aides then turned to Ashcroft while the attorney general was hospitalized for gallbladder surgery, the Times said...The Times said accounts of the hospital meeting differed, but that some officials said Ashcroft also appeared reluctant to give his authorization to continue with aspects of the program



The story also reported that the Department of Justice had been pursuing an ongoing audit of the NSA data mining project, and "[t]hat review is not known to have found any instances of abuses."

That fact was, naturally, buried in the story, which instead focused on the internal Bush Administration debate over the NSA operation.

Furthermore, given the turf warfare such a program could engender -- Department of Justice, NSA, NSC, CIA, DOD, Homeland Security -- it shouldn't have been a surprise that there were ongoing debates and infighting.

As someone whose actually worked in government, even at the the local level, new policies often, if not always, create debates and turf fights. Everyone wants their opinion on the record, they want their guy at the table. This would seem to be of those situations.

Unfortunately I think you have people with axes to grind leaking and making it appear that this particular situation was somehow different.