As FBI fights terrorism, other prosecutions drop
FBI mission change brought 30 percent fewer cases to court since 9/11, including drug, organized-crime, and white-collar crime charges.
from the June 21, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Assurances from FBI
FBI officials insist that safeguards put in place as a result of past abuses ensure that Americans' civil rights will be protected. They note that the Justice Department, in the IG report, exposed the NSL abuses.
"It is the FBI's job to protect Americans, not only from crime and terrorism, but also from incursions into their constitutional rights," said FBI spokeswoman Denise Ballew in an e-mail. "Through a series of legislative, procedural, and institutional initiatives, we now have a structure of self-regulation and oversight that ensures FBI compliance with the [USA] Patriot Act and all other applicable laws and regulations."
In addition to the Justice Department's inspector general, which oversees the FBI, five congressional committees also have oversight authority. Current and former FBI agents also insist they are trained from their first days in the academy to be conscious of legal restraints that guide their investigative work.
They also argue that if Congress expects the agency to fulfill both its law-enforcement and counterterrorism functions, the bureau will need more resources.
"I'd prefer to see an in-depth study of the kind of resources that are really needed," says John Hall, a 32-year FBI veteran, now retired, who spent the last third of his career teaching at the FBI National Academy. "It may be a thousand, or it may be 2,000 agents, but if we expect to address effectively the sophisticated challenges that are out there now, [we need] more resources."
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