by the Way . . .

The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility has been investigating the conduct of certain Justice Department lawyers who approved the controversial N.S.A. domestic surveillance program. That program involved the illegal secret wiretapping of people in the United States without court warrants. That investigation has now been closed because the O.P.R. investigators were denied security clearances, preventing any progress. A Justice Department spokesman said the program was secret, and anyway, the legality has been reviewed by Justice Department lawyers.