Washington Times - Justice inspector stripped of probe power

Washington Times - Justice inspector stripped of probe power: "In a terse letter to a Republican lawmaker who requested an investigation of the dismissal of complaints against the New Black Panther Party, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said he should be able to do so, but was powerless because Congress had stripped him of that authority.

In a four-page response to Rep. Frank R. Wolf of Virginia, who had requested that the IG's office investigate what he called the complaint's 'unfounded dismissal,' Mr. Fine said that unlike all other inspectors general who have unlimited jurisdiction to investigate all claims of wrongdoing inside their agencies, his office does not.

Mr. Fine said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, that he understood Mr. Wolf's desire to have his office review the matter 'because of our independence.'

But while Mr. Fine had advocated expanding his jurisdiction to allow him to investigate all suspected wrongdoing within the department, Congress had not seen fit to do so."