Gold9472
11-05-2006, 08:51 PM
Report: Feds refusing FBI terror cases
http://www.newsone.ca/ottawarecorder/ViewArticle.aspx?id=22826&source=2
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
11/5/2006
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department increasingly has refused to prosecute FBI cases targeting suspected terrorists over the past five years, according to private researchers who reviewed department records.
The report being released Monday by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University raises questions about the quality of the FBI‘s investigations.
That number marks the peak of generally steady increases from the 2001 budget year, when prosecutors rejected 33 percent of such cases from the FBI, according to the report.
It noted that prosecutions in traditional FBI investigations since 2001 — including drug cases, white collar crimes and organized crimes — have decreased while the number of agents and other employees has risen.
A Justice Department spokesman disputed the data highlighted by the Syracuse researchers, noting that terrorist hoax cases that were quickly dismissed may have been included in the government data.
The FBI‘s assistant director, John Miller, said the low number of cases prosecuted reflects changes in how investigations have been conducted since the Sept. 11 attacks. He said about half of the FBI‘s resources go to detection and information gathering of terrorist networks in cases that do not always result in arrests.
He added: "The FBI has been very clear about how we have changed the way we do business since 9/11."
http://www.newsone.ca/ottawarecorder/ViewArticle.aspx?id=22826&source=2
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
11/5/2006
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department increasingly has refused to prosecute FBI cases targeting suspected terrorists over the past five years, according to private researchers who reviewed department records.
The report being released Monday by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University raises questions about the quality of the FBI‘s investigations.
That number marks the peak of generally steady increases from the 2001 budget year, when prosecutors rejected 33 percent of such cases from the FBI, according to the report.
It noted that prosecutions in traditional FBI investigations since 2001 — including drug cases, white collar crimes and organized crimes — have decreased while the number of agents and other employees has risen.
A Justice Department spokesman disputed the data highlighted by the Syracuse researchers, noting that terrorist hoax cases that were quickly dismissed may have been included in the government data.
The FBI‘s assistant director, John Miller, said the low number of cases prosecuted reflects changes in how investigations have been conducted since the Sept. 11 attacks. He said about half of the FBI‘s resources go to detection and information gathering of terrorist networks in cases that do not always result in arrests.
He added: "The FBI has been very clear about how we have changed the way we do business since 9/11."