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(Photo: AP)
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The Justice Department receives about 50 CIA referrals a year, seeking a preliminary investigation into leaks of classified information, a senior administration official said. Very few ever reach a full-blown investigation, as this one did on Sept. 26, 2003.
The investigation is being done by FBI agents in the counterintelligence division, based at the FBI Washington field office, and overseen by 11 career prosecutors in the counterespionage section of the Justice Department's criminal division.
And, in a move cheered by Democrats, the department announced on Dec. 30, 2003, that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft had recused himself from the inquiry to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest after reviewing certain evidence. Deputy Attorney General James Comey said that U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in Chicago, a veteran of terrorism and political corruption cases, would take over as a special prosecutor and would be given "the tools to conduct a completely independent investigation."
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