Report: 9/11 suits for the DOJ?

WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- Certain employees of the Justice Department have been advised to hire lawyers to defend themselves against lawsuits by people who were detained after Sept. 11, according to a published report Saturday.

Time magazine reported that Monday, the department's Inspector General is expected to release a report critical of the government's roundup of nearly 800 individuals after the terrorist bombings in Washington and New York.

The report, the magazine reported, will criticize officials for not allowing many of the detainees to see an immigration judge and holding detainees for lengthy periods even when it was increasingly clear they had nothing to do with terrorism.

Last July, the Inspector General's office said that the report should be ready by October 2002. In January, it said the findings were complete and the report should be out shortly.

It's unclear why the report has taken so long to be completed, but Time reported that there were discussions within the Bush administration about the feasibility of delaying the release.

Another portion of the report, dealing with conditions of confinement and access to counsel, is expected to be less critical, the magazine reported.

Among the officials who are most likely to be named in lawsuits, are Justice Department Criminal Division head Michael Chertoff, former DOJ Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh and former Immigration and naturalization Service head James Ziglar, all of whom were architects of the roundup policy.