III 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 489 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the appointment by the Attorney 

General of an outside special counsel to investigate certain recent leaks 

of apparently classified and highly sensitive information on United States 

military and intelligence plans, programs, and operations. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 12, 2012 

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. WICKER, Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts, Ms. AYOTTE, Mr. PORTMAN, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. 

CORNYN, Mr. BURR, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. COBURN, Mr. 

PAUL, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. KIRK, Mr. 

CHAMBLISS, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. HOEVEN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the appointment by 

the Attorney General of an outside special counsel to 

investigate certain recent leaks of apparently classified 

and highly sensitive information on United States military and intelligence plans, programs, and operations. 

Whereas over the past few weeks, several publications have 

been released that cite several highly sensitive United 

States military and intelligence counterterrorism plans, 

programs, and operations; 


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•SRES 489 IS 

Whereas these publications appear to be based in substantial 

part on unauthorized disclosures of classified information; 

Whereas the unauthorized disclosure of classified information 

is a felony under Federal law; 

Whereas the identity of the sources in these publications include senior administration officials, participants in these 

reported plans, programs, and operations, and current 

American officials who spoke anonymously about these 

reported plans, programs, and operations because they 

remain classified, parts of them are ongoing, or both; 

Whereas such unauthorized disclosures may inhibit the ability 

of the United States to employ the same or similar plans, 

programs, or operations in the future; put at risk the national security of the United States and the safety of the 

men and women sworn to protect it; and dismay our allies; 

Whereas under Federal law, the Attorney General may appoint an outside special counsel when an investigation or 

prosecution would present a conflict of interest or other 

extraordinary circumstances and when doing so would 

serve the public interest; 

Whereas investigations of unauthorized disclosures of classified information are ordinarily conducted by the Federal 

Bureau of Investigation with assistance from prosecutors 

in the National Security Division of the Department of 

Justice; 

Whereas there is precedent for officials in the National Security Division of the Department of Justice to recuse itself 

from such investigations to avoid even the appearance of 

impropriety or undue influence, and it appears that there 


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•SRES 489 IS 

have been such recusals with respect to the investigation 

of at least one of these unauthorized disclosures; 

Whereas such recusals are indicative of the serious complications already facing the Department of Justice in investigating these matters; 

Whereas the severity of the national security implications of 

these disclosures; the imperative for investigations of 

these disclosures to be conducted independently so as to 

avoid even the appearance of impropriety or undue influence; and the need to conduct these investigations expeditiously to ensure timely mitigation constitute extraordinary circumstances; and 

Whereas, for the foregoing reasons, the appointment of an 

outside special counsel would serve the public interest: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 

2 (1) the Attorney General should— 

3 (A) delegate to an outside special counsel 

4 all of the authority of the Attorney General 

5 with respect to investigations by the Depart6 ment of Justice of any and all unauthorized dis7 closures of classified and highly sensitive infor8 mation related to various United States military 

9 and intelligence plans, programs, and oper10 ations reported in recent publications; and 

11 (B) direct an outside special counsel to ex12 ercise that authority independently of the suVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:19 Jun 13, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR489.IS SR489

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•SRES 489 IS 

1 pervision or control of any officer of the De2 partment of Justice; 

3 (2) under such authority, the outside special 

4 counsel should investigate any and all unauthorized 

5 disclosures of classified and highly sensitive informa6 tion on which such recent publications were based 

7 and, where appropriate, prosecute those responsible; 

8 and 

9 (3) the President should assess— 

10 (A) whether any such unauthorized disclo11 sures of classified and highly sensitive informa12 tion damaged the national security of the 

13 United States; and 

14 (B) how such damage can be mitigated. 

Æ 


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