Jay Carney: Closing Amber Alert Website Not a Political Move

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the closing of the AMBER Alert website did not interfere with law enforcement operations, and was not a political move to make the government shutdown more painful.

“That is of course not the case,” Carney told reporters Monday when asked if shutting the website down was a political move. He said the Department of Justice is handling the matter.

“I would refer you to DOJ about how the website is administered, but, I can tell you that the website that DOJ maintains is informational. It is not a law enforcement tool used to issue AMBER Alerts, and at no point during the shutdown has the AMBER Alert system been interrupted,” Carney continued

Drivers pass a display showing an Amber Alert, asking motorists to be on the lookout for a specific vehicle Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013, in San Diego. (AP)

The website for Amber Alert, a system to blast out notifications about abducted children, was reopened Monday after initial controversy. The alert system itself was not affected by the shutdown, only the federal website. Another informational website, First lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" website did not close down.

“To eliminate any confusion among the public about the status of the program, a furloughed Justice Department employee was called into work in order to restore the informational site,” Carney further said. “Again, it was informational. The system itself was never interrupted.”

As TheBlaze previously reported, taking the website offline might have violated Justice Department rules,

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