In Defense of the Office of Legal Counsel

We write on behalf of all nine deputy assistant attorneys general who currently work or formerly worked for Steven G. Bradbury during his tenure as acting head of the Office of Legal Counsel.

One or more of us have worked with him on virtually every issue that has gone through the office, and each of us is intimately familiar with how the office has treated the legal issues that have come before it.

The summary assertion in the Oct. 7 editorial "More Torture Memos," that in recent years the office's professionalism has been compromised, was not only deeply unfair to Mr. Bradbury and the rest of OLC's staff but was also remarkably ill-informed. Mr. Bradbury is a careful lawyer of unimpeachable integrity and sound judgment. He always strives to get the law right and always demands the same from us. Under Mr. Bradbury's leadership, the office has never hesitated to say no.

Under Mr. Bradbury, the office has also played a critical role in bringing greater transparency to the legal basis for the administration's policies.

JOHN A. EISENBERG

Deputy Assistant Attorney General

HOWARD C. NIELSON JR.

Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Office of Legal Counsel

U.S. Department of Justice

Washington