3/10/2004

According to FBI Director Robert Mueller, who visited Attorney General (AG) John Ashcroft in the hospital on March 10, 2004, along with White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and presidential counsel Alberto Gonzales: “Ashcroft complained that he, the attorney general, was never able to get the full details of the NSA [National Security Agency] [warrantless surveillance] program from the White House. Mueller would later note, ‘The AG also told them [Card and Gonzales] that he was barred from obtaining the advice he needed on the program by the strict compartmentalization rules of the WH [White House].’ ”

 – James Bamford, The Shadow Factory, Page 283