Is The FBI A "Shadow Of Its Former Self"?

(AP)  The FBI is a shadow of its former crime-busting self, submitting nearly 40 percent fewer criminal investigations to the Justice Department for possible prosecution than it did two decades ago.

The decline is mostly the result of the bureau's heavy focus on terrorism investigations in recent years.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on U.S. soil changed the FBI's focus, but other agencies that are heavily engaged in white-collar criminal investigations are showing similar changes, says the study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a private group at Syracuse University.

A top FBI official said the agency's new emphasis on stopping terrorists was necessary - and effective.

"To say the FBI is a shadow of its former self is to ask the question: What do you get for shifting FBI agents to the national security mission?" said John Miller, an assistant FBI director. "If the answer is going 6 1/2 years without a successful attack by terrorists on U.S. soil, then I think it's a win."

The flip side to the declines is the soaring number of immigration investigations, which now account for more than a quarter of all criminal referrals to the Justice Department, according to TRAC.

Last year, 41,600 immigration cases went to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, more than double the figure from 2001. The latest figure is four times the number of two decades ago.

At the FBI, the bureau accounts for less than one of every six case files referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. Twenty years ago, it was more than one out of every three, says TRAC, which based its findings on the government's own data. TRAC obtained the data under the Freedom of Information Act.

"We're doing fewer low-end fraud and drug cases, the easy lay-ups," said Miller, the FBI official. "At the same time hundreds of agents worked on Enron, HealthSouth, Qwest. Another priority, complex public corruption cases, may take two years, but the result is an achievement that transcends arrest numbers."

Other federal law enforcement agencies that are seeing dramatic declines in referrals include the Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said "there is no question about the importance of the FBI's work in fighting terrorism. But we must be mindful of the traditional and critical role the Bureau plays in domestic law enforcement, and we must reverse the trend of shifting important resources away from investigating violent crime and white collar crime."

The federal data that TRAC collected from the Justice Department's Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys states that:

-The FBI made 25,100 criminal referrals last year, compared to 41,300 in 1987.

-Last year, the FBI made 2,300 referrals to the Justice Department in white-collar investigations, an 82 percent decline from 2001. White-collar referrals peaked at 20,900 in 1993, the year of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

-At the Secret Service, the agency sent 12,200 investigations to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution in 1987. Now it's 5,100.

-At the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the referral number was 6,600 two decades ago, in contrast to 5,100 now.

-At the Internal Revenue Service, the 1987 referral figure was 3,300. Now it's 2,600.

The agencies with declines say that it takes time to conduct complex criminal investigations in the Internet age against technically sophisticated targets.

A tax investigation takes an average of 507 days and "we've been tackling a higher proportion of cases that take longer," says Victor Song, the IRS deputy chief for criminal investigations.

The anthrax attacks of 2001 prompted the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to strengthen its focus in the security arena, but "we have not shifted resources" away from other investigations, said Douglas Bem, a spokesman for the service.

"Many of our cases are prosecuted at the state and local level when it's more appropriate rather than through the federal judicial system," said Bem. "We work at all levels, not only with U.S. attorneys."

Investigations involving cyber crimes, especially network intrusions, are much more complex than the investigations of 20 years ago and cases are often global in scope and tend to be longer running, says Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan.

[andyli1004]

After that, all US companies had to sever ties with companies that were tied to the Nazi regime. Internet is a good place to share information and meet friends. I

recently found a nice web site called pubspa.com where you can meet

friends who have same interest in beauty care, massage, wellness and

spa treatment. You can also share blog, video, game, photos, etc with

people from all over the world. Unlike other online dating sites where

you have to pay membership fee, this site is totally free. I already

made several interesting friends there.

[zoopster1]

"Slave Labor and Child Forced Slave Labor was common place in the death camps
Inmates were used as - S*e*x Slaves
Children were used as : Child S*e*x* Slaves"

That did not happen all that often. Nazi officers found guilty of taking to bed with a Jew were subject to loss of commission and imprisonment. German soldiers found guilty of same were shot. So that wasn''t part of the system, and was in fact strongly discouraged by it.

[zoopster1]

Just what does that mean? NAFTA stands for North American Free Trade Agreement, and covers trade between states in the Western Hemisphere. Yet it is a proven fact that most forced child labor and slavery takes place in Asia, which is in fact not a member of the NAFTA accord.

So... your point again?

[standlee5]

IS the IRS going to go after these employers who pay illegal labor with 1099''s. Then the illegal aliens who claim they have a "business". Don''t pay payroll taxes, don''t pay self employment taxes, aren''t licensed and bonded. Those of us who run legitamate businesses have been s.crewed by the govt. particularly local govts. that require us to play by the rules but give a free pass to illegals. Living in a santuary state with a governor who caters to Mexico''s president.

[standlee5]

I hope the FBI is investigating along with the IRS the outrageous disregard for labor law.

[zoopster1]

"The National Archives or The Library of Congress :
Government documents in the National Archives and Library of Congress reveal that
Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, Served as a business partner
of and U.S. Banking Operative for the Financial Architect of the Nazi war machine from
1926 until 1942,"
Your story already starts to unravel. Hitler did not come to power until 1933. There was no "Nazi war machine" prior to then, and it wasn''t until late that year that General Heinz Guderian was in a position to push the concept of Blitzkrieg. The United States was a neutral party that maintained diplomatic ties with the Hitler regime, in spite of its war of aggression, until December 11, 1941 when Germany honored the Tripartite Pact by declaring war on us after we declared war on Japan. After that, all US companies had to sever ties with companies that were tied to the Nazi regime.

You might want to try a real history book, and stay away from those conspiracy theory websites. Just because it''s on the Net doesn''t make it true. And incidentally, American hero Charles Lindbergh was a Nazi apologist who had to eat his words when the death camps were discovered. Does that make him evil too? Does that mean his son, who was kidnapped and killed, deserved to die?

[zoopster1]

Lastdance, I will spend some time looking up this vast number of hysterical accusations you make, to verify whether or not any are true. However, what you imply is that the son is automatically guilty of the sins committed by the father. Is that correct? If so, what makes you any different from those you accuse? How are you protecting my interests by making these claims? Have you gone to the Library Of Congress or the National Archives yourself, to verify these quite serious accusations? Do you think the evidence will stand up in a US court of law?

If so, lets get the necessary materials together, hire some lawyers, and go try to prove it to a jury. I''m game. It''s obviously very important to you. But I maintain that you diminish the Nazis by comparing them with a bunch of bungling, corrupt weasels like the Bush bunch.

[zoopster1]

Once again, it amazes me. I find it unlikely that too many people who were actually inmates at places like Auchwitz, Berkenau, Treblinka, etc; people who saw true evil and in many cases looked it right in the eye, would agree that any US politician could be compared to the Nazis. Now or ever. Yet people who are so far out on the left wing fringe that Nikita Khrushchev was a member of the John Birch society by comparison continue to liken members of our government to that regime. That is out of bounds, guys, seriously.

Let''s get something straight. Bush and his cronies are many things: foolish, incompetent. They arose from privilege, born with a silver spoon in their mouths. They owe their positions to knowing (and sucking up to) the right people at the right time. But to compare them to a highly efficient and brutal system built for world conquest, and the orderly disposal of the state''s enemies gives them WAY too much credit. People of Bush''s ilk come from the corridors of the corporate world; people who got where they are because they were the best at dodging responsibility, and pinning blame for their mistakes on less important people too slow or dumb to move out of the way. There are a lot of things unethical about that, true. But hardly anything sinister. So do your credibility a favor and refrain from making those comparisons please.

[walt1944-2009]

Alas, there are those who feel that since Mulder and Scully left the FBI''s "X Files" some years ago, that the entire department has lost its direction and, as the saying goes, "does not know its "arse" from a hole in the ground"!

That is why those who bombed the NYC recruiting office several days ago, will probably never be caught, why identity theft is totally beyond them, and why Jimmy Hoffa will never be found.

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!
sig heil, McCain????

[zoopster1]

I see the usual left-wing anti-Bush crowd is in full swing as usual. Question: how exactly have YOUR lives been changed? Have you been served with arrest warrants based on anonymous accusations? Has anyone in your family been picked up from work or school and interrogated by FBI agents without cause? Have you been awakened at 3 in the morning by uniformed FBI tactical guys kicking in your door and hauling you away?? How exactly has Bush and Co. messed up your lives so bad that you make asinine accusations against him and our government, such as comparing them to the NAZIS????

Come on people, get a grip. Bush will be GONE in a few more months, and another equally ineffective president will be sworn in. Congress will continue to get nothing done, and the vast majority of our nation''s riches will be spent defending us from people who just want to come over here, kill themselves, and hopefully take as many of us with them as possible. Their reasons for this are legion, and they existed long before we ever thought about doing the Middle East a favor by kicking out Saddam.

And, incidentally, "The Untouchables" is completely irrelevant to this article. Prohibition enforcement was under the umbrella of the Treasury Dept, not the FBI.