Hiring FBI Crime-Fighters

Between fiscal 2000 and 2003, as the war on terrorism cranked up, the FBI added 1,400 agents to its National Foreign Intelligence Program. At the same time, the number of agents assigned to investigations of organized crime, drugs, white-collar crime, and violent offenses was cut by more than 1,800. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., wants to swing the scales back--at least partially. He has introduced a bill to add 1,000 agents to focus exclusively on the FBI's traditional crime-fighting mission.