GAO: FBI's antiterrorism focus not harming traditional work

The FBI's post-Sept. 11 focus on combating terrorism has not necessarily detracted from the federal government's efforts to investigate drug-related, white-collar and violent crimes, according to a new Government Accountability Office study.

FBI officials transferred substantial numbers of field agents to counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cybercrime work following the terrorist attacks, and attention to traditional drug and criminal cases fell in the next two years, GAO auditors reported. But outside agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, are closing the gap, the analysis of enforcement statistics indicated.

Drug enforcement didn't make the top 10 list when FBI Director Robert Mueller outlined his agency's new priorities in May 2002. White-collar crime came in seventh on the list and violent crime ended up eighth, while counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cybercrime filled the top three slots.

As priorities shifted, the FBI permanently transferred 550 field agents from drug enforcement and pulled 124 agents from white-collar crime and violent crime. A quarter of the agency's nonsupervisory field agents worked on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cybercrime in fiscal 2002 before the realignment of priorities. In fiscal 2004, the FBI dedicated 36 percent of nonsupervisory agents to those three areas.

In addition to permanent transfers, the FBI has experienced "a continuing need to temporarily redirect special agent resources from other criminal investigative programs to address counterterrorism and other high-priority needs," the report said.

After the reprioritization, the FBI opened fewer drug and white-collar and violent crime investigations and referred fewer cases to federal prosecutors, the report (GAO-04-1036) stated. New drug investigations fell from 1,447 in fiscal 2001 to 587 in fiscal 2003, a drop of nearly 60 percent. New white-collar and violent crime cases fell by 32 percent and 40 percent respectively over the same period.

The FBI's referrals of drug, white-collar and violent crime cases to U.S. attorneys' offices for prosecution fell by 39, 23 and 10 percent from fiscal 2001 to fiscal 2003, while referrals of terrorism-related matters during that period rose by 671 percent.

But an analysis of the FBI alone presents an incomplete picture, GAO found. On drug matters, the DEA is already picking up some of the slack, and will likely do so to a greater extent in the coming years, according to auditors.

DEA has hired additional agents, GAO reported. By the close of this fiscal year on Sept. 30, the agency expects to fill 216 extra special agent positions included in fiscal 2003 spending legislation. Next fiscal year the agency expects to bring on 365 new agents. DEA will also ask lawmakers to fund 111 more spots for fiscal 2006.

Combining statistics from the FBI and DEA, drug-related cases opened fell from 22,736 in fiscal 2001 to 20,387 in fiscal 2003, amounting to an overall drop of only 10 percent, GAO found. An increased "emphasis on complex, long-term cases that focus on dismantling or disrupting major drug organizations," may partly explain the overall decrease, a DEA official told GAO.

Looking at governmentwide statistics, GAO found that overall, referrals of federal drug cases to U.S. attorneys' offices fell by only 2 percent between fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2003. Likewise, a review of overall white-collar and violent crime data shows that outside agencies are picking up some of the FBI's work, GAO found.

An assessment of numbers from across the government showed that overall referrals of white-collar cases to federal prosecutors declined by only 6 percent, and referrals of violent crime cases increased by 29 percent during the same period.

The Justice Department reviewed the report and GAO incorporated officials' comments in the study.