[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 142 (Thursday, September 12, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6016]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  NOMINATION OF JOHN BRADFORD WIEGMANN

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am announcing my intent to object to any 
unanimous consent request to proceed to the nomination of John Bradford 
Wiegmann to be the General Counsel of the Office of the Director of 
National Intelligence (ODNI), subject to the Department of Justice 
fulfilling its commitment to me to provide a list of certain legal 
opinions.
  Opinions of the Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) carry 
enormous weight, guiding government agencies and providing legal bases 
for entire programs. They have precedential value, continuing in force 
from administration to administration. Yet Congress and the public have 
limited insight into these opinions. The potential risks of this secret 
law are most apparent in the world of intelligence, where the OLC wrote 
opinions green-lighting warrantless surveillance and torture without 
the oversight or awareness of the congressional intelligence 
communities.
  In December 2023, I made a modest request of the Justice Department. 
Christopher Fonzone, then ODNI General Counsel, had been nominated to 
be Assistant Attorney General in charge of OLC. I asked him for a list 
of OLC opinions directed to an element of the intelligence community 
and any other opinions related to surveillance authorities. The 
Department of Justice then committed to responding to my request ``as 
expeditiously and thoroughly as possible.'' Nine months later, I have 
not received the list.
  It is my intent to lift the hold on Mr. Wiegmann as soon as the 
Department abides by its commitment and provides me with the list I 
requested.

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