A Dangerous Darkness

Dear Mr. Attorney General:

I received the Department of Justice’s July 3rd reply to my letter of March 28, 2002, regarding individuals detained as part of the department’s investigation into the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Sen. Carl Levin

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Carl Levin (D-Mich.) chairs the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In March, he wrote John Ashcroft asking the attorney general to tell his panel how many men, women and-- who knows?--maybe even children the government had detained since 9/11. Where were they locked up? When would they hear the accusations against them? How many had the government released?

More than incomplete, Ashcroft’s July 3 response is unsettling, suggesting as it does that the Bush administration assumes it has carte blanche to choose which aspects of democracy to honor in this time of terrorism.

We are not among those who snicker at Ashcroft for remaining on high alert about possible Al Qaeda sleeper cells eager to commit more mass murder--psychologists might call that denial. Most Americans take the threat seriously and will make sacrifices to keep it from happening, including, possibly, giving the government a freer hand in detecting, arresting and detaining the nation’s enemies. But that doesn’t include dismissing the constitutional checks and balances that have served this nation for 200 years.

When he finally replied, Ashcroft said the FBI and the Immigration and Naturalization Service had detained 881 people, on criminal or immigration charges. But last winter the department said federal agents had corralled close to 1,200 suspects. What happened to the other 300? Are they still waiting in some jail cell, lost to the system?

Levin asked why Ashcroft had ordered immigration judges to close their courtroom doors for hearings on noncitizen detainees, barring the public, reporters and even family members. The attorney general dug his heels into constitutional quicksand. Open hearings, he said, “would adversely impact our pending criminal and terrorism investigations ... the security of these as well as other detainees, the immigration courts and the public.”

Ashcroft also insisted, “We do not maintain records ... for the total number of individuals who have been detained without being charged.” Whether a sign of disorganization or duplicity, this answer doesn’t fly.

Levin wrote Ashcroft again, on July 18, with more pointed questions. How many people had been detained by federal agents? How many had lawyers? How many had appeared before a judge? Had been deported?

Levin is not the only Congress member nagging the attorney general to explain what his department has done since 9/11, why the mass roundups and secret hearings he authorized are necessary and how the Constitution justifies such departures from due process. As the direct representative of the people and one of three equal branches of government, Congress is entitled, indeed obligated, to ensure that the president and his Cabinet don’t act unilaterally or recklessly.

Levin asked Ashcroft to reply to his latest inquiry by this Friday. Even if Al Qaeda strikes again today, Americans shouldn’t tolerate another response of “I don’t know” or “I’m not going to tell you.”