Justice Department To Attempt Shut Down of 9/11 Evidence Friday

On June 20, Bush Administration officials quietly informed a New York judge of their intention to commence legal actions likely to be far-reaching in their constitutional, political, and individual rights implications pertaining to current lawsuits and government secrecy related to the attacks on September 11, 2001. The moves were revealed in a letter obtained from a confidential source, with two other sources corroborating its existence, adding additional information.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Robert D. McCallum, Jr. and United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York James B. Comey advised U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, also of the Southern District of New York, that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will intervene to control access to all evidence and documents related to all private litigation before Hellerstein’s court regarding the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 -- citing “grave national security concerns” as their motivation.

The McCallum and Comey correspondence advised Judge Hellerstein of their intention to “seek [court] entry of a global discovery order [effectively controlling evidence obtained from any country],” requiring that 1) “Transportation Security Administration (TSA) be served with [have prior access to] all requests for party and non-party discovery,” 2) “defendants and non-parties submit all proposed discovery responses that may contain ‘sensitive security information’ (SSI) to the TSA prior to releasing such material to plaintiffs,” and 3) “TSA have the necessary opportunity to review such material and to withhold ‘sensitive security information’ ” [from victim-family attorneys].

One victim family plaintiff -- speaking off the record -- told Scoop Media that family members and their attorneys have not yet sought internal memos, electronic mail, facsimiles, and documents which would shed public light upon what had to be extraordinary legal maneuverings. However, added high stakes related to the publicly undisclosed contents of the controversial August 6, 2001 Presidential intelligence briefing prior to the attacks, and a secret July, 2001 FBI memo -- said to be "50 times more significant than the August 6 briefing," by a Congressional investigator (New York Times, 5-18-2002), will only serve to heighten the importance of the June 20 letter.