Ex-U.S. law chief mishandled secret papers: probe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales mishandled top-secret notes on a domestic spying program and on the interrogation of terrorism suspects but will not be prosecuted, a Justice Department report said on Tuesday.

The department's inspector general's office concluded that Gonzales improperly took home notes he had made of an "emergency" congressional briefing about a dispute over the legality of a secret domestic wiretap program launched by President George W. Bush.

Gonzales was a close friend of Bush who previously worked as White House Counsel. He served as attorney general for 2-1/2 troubled years before resigning in August 2007 after allegations that his department fired U.S. attorneys for political reasons.

"Gonzales mishandled classified materials while serving as attorney general," the report concluded.

An attorney for Gonzales responded that the mishandled material was only a fraction of the "vast amounts" of secret information he dealt with, and there was no evidence of any unauthorized disclosure.

Gonzales made the notes of the March 10, 2004, meeting at Bush's request, while he was serving as White House Counsel. Later that day, Gonzales went to the hospital room of ailing Attorney General John Ashcroft in a failed attempt to win Ashcroft's reauthorization for the wiretap program.

After Gonzales was sworn in as attorney general in 2005, he took the handwritten notes home for an undetermined period, in violation of regulations, the report said.

Gonzales later put the notes and other classified information about the spying and interrogation programs in an office safe that could be opened by unauthorized employees, the report said.

It said two Gonzales aides may have gone through the notes in responding to a Freedom of Information Act request. Investigators decided against questioning the aides because it would have required them to divulge the nature of the classified information.

"Like all other department employees, Gonzales was responsible for safeguarding classified materials, familiarizing himself with the facilities available to him ... and observing the rules and procedures for the proper handling of classified documents," it said.

"Gonzales did not fulfill these obligations."

The department's inspector general referred the Gonzales report to its national security division for possible prosecution in light of federal laws against improper handling of classified documents, but the division declined.

Gonzales's lawyer, George Terwilliger, said in a response to the inspector general that Gonzales always acted with an intent to prevent the information's disclosure.

"Gonzales created the notes at the direction of the president, they concerned very sensitive matters of great import to the nation's security and he handled them consistent with his belief in the need to maintain their confidentiality," Terwilliger said.

(Editing by David Alexander and David Storey)