WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) -- Congress is asking the U.S. Justice Department for more details on a controversial data-mining project that ferrets out terrorists who use the Internet.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., sent a letter this week to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales seeking memos and other background materials having to do with the program that tracks down the individuals involved in intercepted communications.
Conyers is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is looking into the legality of the data-mining program and possible legislative changes to the Foreign Intelligence surveillance Act.
The Bush administration has declined to discuss the program, in which the National Security Agency sifts through huge volumes of Internet traffic to monitor communications without a court-issued warrant.
CNN said Gonzales has maintained that there was no significant dissent within the department about the program.
