The American Spectator

p> CLOSING IN br> Word out of the Defense Intelligence Agency and law enforcement sources has the FBI and the Department of Justice comparing notes and dates on who in the U.S. Senate received national security briefings on both the overseas terrorist prisons and the NSA overseas terrorist monitoring programs, and when those briefings took place. /p>

“The number of Senators who received briefings is not as large as people think,” says one law enforcement source. “These were programs with a limited ‘Need to Know” list on Capitol Hill.”

Federal investigators looking into the leaks of both those programs to the press are zeroing in on the Senate, and are expected to continue to hold interviews of both Senators and their senior staff in the coming days. “This investigation is moving forward at a pretty fast clip,” says the law enforcement source. “We’re not looking at a two-year probe. We’re talking about moving fast.”

As yet, cooperation from the media outlets — the Washington Post and the New York Times has been minimal, but investigators aren’t sure they will need full cooperation to make the case. “The Hill may be all we need,” says the source.

Focus of the investigation remains on the staffs of two Senators, Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Sen. Dick Durbin, as well as committee staff for the Senate Intelligence Committee and career intelligence staff detailed to U.S. Senate offices and committees. Last week, it was revealed that on February 17 Senator Rockefeller had sent a letter to the White House claiming that the Bush Administration had illegally leaked classified materials to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward for a book project he was working on with cooperation from the Bush White House.

A number of people of Capitol Hill and in the intelligence community interpreted the letter as an attempt by Rockefeller to play defense should it be revealed that his office or staff tied to him on the Intelligence Committee are somehow involved in the serious leak cases.