WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers security clearance.

The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, sent a fax Wednesday to Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey of New York saying it was closing its inquiry because without clearance it could not examine department lawyers' role in the program.

You're investigating us? That's great, good for you. Good luck with that. What? You want to see our files? They're classified. Yes, all of them. You want a clearance to see them? Sorry, you can't get that. Good luck with your investigation.

Good luck with that accountability thing.

(If anyone saw the Daily Show on Monday, they had a great Venn diagram to explain Bush's assertion that the CIA has a rich tradition of "Accountability and Secrecy": a yellow "Accountability" circle, overlayed with a dark eclipsing circle of "Secrecy")

CNN.com - Domestic spying inquiry killed - May 10, 2006