A former acting chief of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel said today he is "not opposed" to a criminal investigation of the office, which was at the center of the Bush administration's internal debate about torture.
Daniel Levin's comments were unusual because other former Republican appointees have opposed additional investigations in the Office of Legal Counsel. He led the office from July 2004 to February 2005.
Levin spoke at a forum at American University’s Washington College of Law on whether and how former government lawyers should face discipline. He said he does not have an opinion on the best way to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by government lawyers, but he suggested that a criminal investigation of the Office of Legal Counsel – though a “blunt instrument” – could be worthwhile.
“I personally am not opposed to criminal investigations of myself and others from our time there,” said Levin, now a partner in the Washington office of White & Case.
At the same time, Levin defended the motives of two other former OLC officials, Jay Bybee and John Yoo. Bybee and Yoo have drawn the most criticism because of their involvement in writing or approving so-called “torture memos” after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“I genuinely believe, for what it’s worth, that they genuinely believed the advice they were giving was correct,” Levin said.
Levin served in several high-level positions during George W. Bush’s first term as president. He was chief of staff to FBI Director Robert Mueller and a counselor to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft.
But he was not among the Bush administration’s advocates for harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding. He became acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel in July 2004, after the office’s lawyers had already issued a series of memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques. In December 2004, he effectively revoked the most controversial aspects of one 2002 memo about torture.
“Serving as a government lawyer really is a privilege and a public trust,” Levin said today. “We are accountable and need to be held accountable for our conduct.” He declined to speak about his own time at the Office of Legal Counsel.
Congress has led several inquiries into the Bush administration’s interrogation techniques, and the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility has been investigating the Office of Legal Counsel for about five years. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said in July that OPR was “pretty close” to finishing its report on the matter.
In August, Holder appointed career federal prosecutor John Durham to conduct a preliminary inquiry into possible criminal conduct by CIA interrogators. He has declined to appoint a prosecutor to investigate former OLC lawyers.
UPDATE (1:05 p.m.): Levin also said he could support the creation of a "truth commission," as Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and others have proposed, under certain conditions.
"If you could have a serious look at this, it would be very valuable," he said. "I just am not very optimistic" that such an inquiry would be serious, he added.
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