NATIONAL
December 9, 2009 | By Josh Meyer
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III on Tuesday tapped former CIA and FBI chief William H. Webster to lead an independent review of the bureau's "policies, practices and actions" before last month's shooting rampage at Ft. Hood, Texas. Webster, who also was a federal judge, "is uniquely qualified to undertake this task and look at the procedures and actions involved in this matter," Mueller said. "It is essential to determine whether there are improvements to our current practices or other authorities that could make us all safer in the future."
NATIONAL
August 25, 2009 | Josh Meyer and Greg Miller
The Obama administration Monday set the country on a course to confront whether actions taken in the name of defending Americans instead crossed criminal lines. In simultaneous moves, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. opened an investigation into whether CIA interrogators broke the law and the administration complied with a judge's order and released a long-secret CIA report that cataloged allegations of agency prisoner abuse. The administration also released memos sought in recent months by former Vice President Dick Cheney that he argued attest to the success of the CIA's controversial methods, but that appeared inconclusive in part because the agency had blacked out large portions of the memos.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 9, 2008 | Andrew Blankstein, Times Staff Writer
Can Ken Starr tame Malibu's rabid paparazzi? That's what Malibu officials are hoping as they turn to the independent counsel who investigated President Clinton's involvement with White House intern Monica Lewinsky to help them craft restrictions on "pap packs" that descend on the celebrity-rich coastal town. Malibu officials say their town has been overrun by members of the celebrity media, who camp out at the city's few shopping centers and follow celebrities down Pacific Coast Highway.
NATIONAL
May 13, 2006 | From Times Wire Reports
Robert Ray, a former independent counsel who investigated President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, turned himself in to police on charges of stalking a former girlfriend, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office. New York police say Ray's former girlfriend, a 40-year-old Manhattan woman, filed a complaint that he persisted in sending e-mail and knocking on her door months after she broke off their relationship.
NATIONAL
February 24, 2006 | Walter F. Roche Jr., Times Staff Writer
Two Senate Democrats are calling on Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate lobbyist Jack Abramoff's activities in two Pacific island territories. In a letter made public Thursday, Sens. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and Ken Salazar of Colorado also asked Gonzales to provide the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with a secret Justice Department report on security risks in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
NATIONAL
January 20, 2006 | David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer
After about 10 years and $21 million spent investigating former Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros, the last independent counsel from the Clinton era officially ended his probe Thursday, complaining he needed more time to unravel what might have been a massive "coverup at high levels of our government." David M. Barrett, a former Republican lawyer and lobbyist who was appointed in 1995 to investigate the Democrat, issued a 474-page "Final Report of the Independent Counsel."