Justice Department Overhaul

Washington Post article about the severe problems in the Department of Justice under Bush and how Obama might handle them. A real post to watch will be the head of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) which is the office that decides on the legality of executive branch programs/policies. John Yoo was in the OLC when he wrote the memos authorizing torture and wiretapping programs, authorizations that were revoked by a later head of the OLC, Jack Goldsmith. These stories are told in fascinating detail in Goldsmith's book, The Terror Presidency, and in Barton Gellman's Angler and Jane Mayer's The Dark Side. I highly recommend all three books.