The Bush Administration and Attorney General Gonzales believed that OPR did not have the authority to investigate Gonzales 's role as White House Counsel in connection with certain intelligence activities authorized by the President . In response to suggestions that Gonzales blocked the investigation or that the President blocked the investigation to protect Gonzales , Assistant Attorney General Richard Hertling informed Chairman John Conyers on March 22 , 2007 , that " the President made the decision not to grant the requested security clearances to " OPR staff . Judge Gonzales " was not told he was the subject or target of the OPR investigation , nor did he believe himself to be ... " Judge Gonzales " did not ask the President to shut down or otherwise impede the OPR investigation " . Judge Gonzales " recommended to the President that OPR be granted security clearance . " In a letter to the Senate dated August 1 , 2007 , Gonzales disclosed that shortly after the September 11 attacks , the President authorized the NSA , under a single Presidential Authorization , to engage in a number of intelligence activities , which would later be collectively described as the " President 's Surveillance Program " ( PSP ) by the DOJ Inspector General , Glenn A. Fine . Some of these authorized activities were described as the " Terrorist Surveillance Program " ( TSP ) by President Bush , in an address to the nation on December 16 , 2005 . As the August 1 letter indicates , the dispute between the President and James Comey that led to the hospital visit was not over TSP , it concerned other classified intelligence activities that are part of PSP and have not been disclosed . He defended his authorization of the program , asserting " ... if you are talking with al-Qaeda , we want to know why . " In his letter , Gonzales wrote the Senate Judiciary Committee that he defined TSP as the program the President publicly confirmed , a program that targets communications where one party is outside the United States , and as to which the government had reason to believe at least one party to the communication is a member of al-Qaeda or an affiliated terrorist organization . Indeed , prior to the 2007 letter , Gonzales provided the same definition of TSP in several public appearances leading up to a hearing in Congress on February 6 , 2006
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Alberto Gonzales