DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

OVERVIEW

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) protects our Nation against terrorists, criminals, and drug-traffickers; ensures healthy business competition; and represents the interests of the American people in legal suits. Since September 11, 2001, the Department’s emphasis on law enforcement has dramatically shifted to countering terrorism. Using the critical tools provided by the USA PATRIOT Act, the Department has improved intelligence sharing and is in a better position to deter, detect, and disrupt terrorists and terrorist plots aimed at the United States. DOJ carries out this vital work while protecting civil liberties and freedoms. The President’s 2005 Budget offers new strategies to combat terrorism and fight crime.

    Components of DOJ include the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which investigates and apprehends terrorists and other Federal criminals; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which targets and disrupts drug trafficking organizations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which enforces the Nation’s firearms and explosives regulations; the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), which protects the Federal judiciary and apprehends fugitives; the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which confines Federal prisoners and prepares them for re-entry into society; the U.S. Attorneys and other litigating divisions, which enforce Federal criminal and civil laws, including civil rights, tax, antitrust, environmental, and civil justice statutes; and the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), which administers State and local criminal justice assistance.

    Countering the Threat of Terrorism. The Budget includes $2.6 billion, a 19-percent, increase, to combat terrorism. A new interagency Terrorist Threat Integration Center is analyzing intelligence gathered from multiple sources to develop more comprehensive threat assessments, and a new Terrorist Screening Center is screening individuals seeking to access Government services, such as applicants for visas to enter the United States.

    Reinvigorating Drug Enforcement. Following the September 11^th attacks, DOJ shifted resources from fighting drugs to combating terrorism. To reinvigorate drug enforcement, the Budget provides resources to restore the pre-September 11^th drug agent staffing level.

    “Thinking Outside the Box.” More than $4.6 billion is provided for BOP, including an initiative that places a moratorium on new construction, and urges DOJ to make maximum use of available State, local, and private prison space to meet its prisoner incarceration requirements.

    Protecting Our Neighborhoods and Children from Crime. The Administration leads efforts to protect our neighborhoods and children from crime, including Project Safe Neighborhoods, AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert, DNA testing, and programs to combat Child Exploitation and Obscenity and Violence Against Women.

    Performance Evaluation of Select Programs. In the past two years, half of the programs within DOJ have been evaluated using the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), which uses formal criteria to assess program performance and management. The PART analysis is designed to improve programs by focusing on results.

    Update on the President’s Management Agenda. The President’s Management Agenda focuses on five areas of management across Government. The Department’s progress on implementing the President’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative is also evaluated. Overall, DOJ has demonstrated significant progress over the last two quarters, but still faces challenges.

COUNTERING THE THREAT OF TERRORISM

    DOJ’s top priority continues to be the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of terrorist attacks against U.S. citizens and interests. In the past year, the Department has arrested 1,283 individuals on counterterrorism-related charges and prosecuted and obtained convictions in 661 terrorism-related and anti-terrorism cases.

    The President’s 2005 Budget would further strengthen these counterterrorism efforts. In particular, it proposes counterterrorism/counterintelligence enhancements of $357 million for the FBI.

    The FBI is the lead agency within DOJ for combating terrorism. Since September 11^th, the FBI has made preventing terrorist attacks its number one priority and has instituted a number of organizational, procedural, and resource allocation changes to support this goal. In addition, it has received significant resource increases in recent years, with funding rising from $3.0 billion in 2000 to approximately $4.5 billion in 2004, plus over $1 billion in supplemental funding in 2002 and 2003. The Budget proposes $5.1 billion for the FBI in 2005. Among the principal increases are:

• $38 million to improve the FBI’s intelligence capability, including a new Office of Intelligence to coordinate intelligence requirements and collection, additional language translators, and additional surveillance staff;

• $60 million for counterterrorism investigations;

• $55 million to combat cybercrime; and

• $52 million to protect the United States from foreign government intelligence operations and espionage.

    Many other DOJ components play a major role in counterterrorism. For example, the U.S. Attorneys have taken on new responsibilities to coordinate with State, local and Federal agencies prosecuting terrorist acts. Since the September 11^th attacks, the U.S. Attorneys have prosecuted and obtained convictions in over 1,000 terrorism-related cases, including both international and domestic terrorism, terrorist financing, and other anti-terrorism cases.

    The President’s 2005 Budget includes an additional $5 million for ATF to enforce the Safe Explosives Act. ATF’s enforcement of this Act protects the public from hazardous explosives incidents and aims to keep terrorists from acquiring bombing and explosives materials.

    While DOJ has a significant role in combating terrorism, a successful counterterrorism effort requires partnerships with other government agencies. Last year, the Budget reported on some of the efforts, such as the Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs), which are coordinated efforts between the FBI field offices and their counterparts in Federal, State, and local law enforcement to prevent terrorist attacks. The number of JTTFs has grown to 84. Another effort is the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, a multi-agency partnership that collects and analyzes information to track and detect foreign terrorists and their supporters. DOJ also provides financial and technical assistance to State and local governments for counterterrorism efforts.

    The Budget includes two new Presidential initiatives in which the Department plays a major role:

• The Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), an interagency partnership supervised by the Director of Central Intelligence, is the Nation’s first integrated center responsible for merging and analyzing terrorist-related information collected domestically and abroad in order to form the most comprehensive threat picture.

• The Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), supervised by the Attorney General, will ensure that Government screeners are using a consolidated watchlist of known or suspected terrorists when considering granting benefits to individuals, such as visas to enter the country. The Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State are the primary participants in the TSC. Funding for the TSC will be centralized in the FBI ($29 million increase).

THINKING OUTSIDE THE “80-SQUARE-FOOT” BOX

    The average Federal prison cell is 80 square feet—yet it costs taxpayers roughly $170,000 to build and activate and another $24,500 per year to confine a Federal inmate. At present, BOP incarcerates over 174,000 inmates, of which nearly 27,000 are in contract beds. This represents a $25-billion investment and almost $4 billion in annual costs. It is time to start thinking outside of the 80- square-foot box and look at more cost-effective approaches to confinement, particularly contracting out for prisoner bed space.

    The BOP is committed to contracting out bed space for low and minimum security inmates. This will yield cost savings and represents a more flexible approach than additional prison construction. While this has been the Administration’s policy, implementation has been slow due, in large part, to earlier decisions to meet additional bed space needs through new construction. For instance, BOP’s total prison population increased by 10 percent between 2002 and 2003, but its contract population remained largely static. The 2005 request is intended to help reverse this trend.

    The 2005 Budget places a moratorium on new prison construction while promoting more aggressive BOP contracting with State, local, and private sector prison providers. This approach is consistent with a PART assessment. While BOP’s program was found to be strong overall, the PART analysis suggested that BOP take greater advantage of public and private sector bed space to meet its capacity requirements. The President’s 2005 Budget provides partial funding for an additional 4,500 contract beds. In addition, the Budget provides that DOJ will examine the use of up to $150 million in prior year balances to contract out housing for low and minimum security inmates.

    DOJ will evaluate low and minimum security facilities for potential upgrades to suit higher security inmates. This will help relieve crowding at the most critical security levels, while saving the taxpayers money.

REINVIGORATING DRUG ENFORCEMENT

    In March 2002, the Attorney General announced a comprehensive six-part drug enforcement strategy for DOJ. The strategy combines the talent and expertise of numerous Federal law enforcement agencies to identify and target the most significant drug supply organizations and their related components. The central element of the strategy was the development of the first national list of priority drug trafficking targets, the Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT) List, a unified list of international “command and control” drug traffickers and money launderers. These organizations and their related components, including the financial infrastructure supporting those enterprises, are targeted for investigations. Currently there are 517 active investigations linked to the 40 targets on the CPOT List.

    During 2003, Federal law enforcement successfully dismantled eight organizations identified on the CPOT List. Enforcement efforts in the past year also significantly disrupted the activities of seven other CPOT organizations. One of those organizations—the Ismael Zambada-Garcia organization—is reputed to be one of the largest and most powerful cocaine and marijuana organizations in Mexico.

Restoring Drug Agents to pre-September 11th Levels

    Following the terrorist attacks of September 11^th, the FBI reassigned more than 500 agents from drug investigations to counterterrorism investigations. As a result, the number of DOJ-funded drug enforcement agents declined by eight percent. To carry out the Department’s new drug enforcement strategy effectively, the number of drug agents is being increased.

    The President’s 2005 Budget includes $35 million to add 100 agents and additional complementary support staff to restore the Department’s drug enforcement strength. In addition, $4 million is included for support staff to relieve approximately 77 agents of corollary duties (e.g., weighing, cataloging, storing, and evidence management of seized drugs) and free them to focus on drug investigations. With the President’s 2005 Budget, the Department’s total drug agent level will exceed the pre-September 11^th level by more than 140 agents.

DEA: A More Focused Approach

    Last year, DEA was unable to demonstrate progress in reducing the availability of illegal drugs in the United States. A principal shortcoming was the lack of quantifiable targets and timeframes in DEA’s strategic plan. This year, a follow-up review found that DEA has made significant progress in addressing these performance measurement shortcomings. Among the most significant changes were revisions to DEA’s strategic plan to include appropriate long-term and annual performance measures. Because of the changes, the PART assessment of DEA changed from Results Not Demonstrated to Adequate.

    The President’s Budget enhances the DEA program by:

• Providing funding for 100 Special Agents and related support staff to investigate Priority Target Organizations, including their financial infrastructures ($35 million increase);

• Improving the infrastructure essential to sustaining DEA’s existing operational capacity ($13 million increase);

• Enhancing DEA’s international counter-narcotics training in strategic areas ($1million increase); and

• Redirecting existing DEA resources ($21 million) to support these enhancements.

OCDETF: The Cornerstone of the Department’s Drug Enforcement Strategy

    To target trafficking networks effectively—including suppliers, distributors, couriers, and money launderers—law enforcement agencies must pool their resources and their expertise and work as a team. The Attorney General’s Drug Enforcement Strategy restored the focus of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program to facilitating coordinated investigations of major drug supply and money laundering organizations. OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of Federal, State, and local drug law enforcement agents and prosecutors to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. As a result, OCDETF investigations account for the vast majority (83 percent) of all CPOT List investigations.

    OCDETF has placed renewed emphasis on expanding investigations beyond the original jurisdiction into neighboring districts, States, and regions where related components of the targeted organization may be operating. Nearly 90 percent of all OCDETF investigations are now multi-jurisdictional. In addition, more than 70 percent of OCDETF investigations initiated in 2003 utilize financial investigative techniques. The President’s 2005 Budget enhances the OCDETF program by:

• Funding an additional 71 Assistant U.S. Attorneys and related support staff—the first increase for OCDETF-funded field attorneys since 1991 ($10 million increase);

• Creating a dedicated fugitive apprehension unit of 26 U.S. Marshals who track down fugitives from OCDETF-funded investigations ($4 million increase);

• Enhancing the Drug Intelligence Fusion Center by funding agents from FBI, DEA, and other Departments ($6 million increase); and

• Strengthening financial investigations by funding 28 additional IRS agents to participate in OCDETF investigations ($5 million increase).

State and Local Drug Abuse Demand Reduction Programs

    The Budget proposes $153 million for State and local demand reduction efforts to help those arrested or convicted free themselves from a cycle of perennial drug abuse and crime.

• During the 2000 campaign, the President promised to increase funding for Drug Courts, which divert drug abusers from the regular criminal justice system into special courts that use a variety of “carrot and stick” approaches to stem drug use and reduce the need for jail time. Studies suggest that the courts effectively stem drug crime recidivism. One recent evaluation shows that of 17,000 annual drug court graduates, 73 percent remained free of arrest for at least two years. The Budget provides a total of $70 million for Drug Courts, an increase of 84 percent over the 2004 funding level.

• Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) provides funds to State and local governments to develop substance abuse treatment programs for incarcerated offenders. More than 6.7 million offenders were incarcerated (or under some form of home detention/monitoring) in 2002. There are more than 300 RSAT programs with almost 40,000 inmates participating. Evidence suggests that RSAT is useful—up to 79 percent of participants remain arrest-free for at least one year after prison release. The Budget provides a total of $76 million for RSAT.

PROTECTING OUR NEIGHBORHOODS AND CHILDREN FROM CRIME

    The Administration has led efforts to help State and local law enforcement protect our neighborhoods, our children and other innocent victims from crime with several key initiatives to:

• Reduce gun crime affecting our neighborhoods;

• Protect our children from obscenity and exploitation;

• Stop Internet crime against children;

• Create a nationwide AMBER Alert network to help find missing children;

• Reduce domestic violence and other crimes against women; and

• Increase use of DNA forensics to catch criminals and exonerate the innocent.

Project Safe Neighborhoods

    The Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative, announced by the President and the Attorney General in 2001, is a comprehensive strategy that brings together Federal, State, and local agencies to reduce violent crime in our communities. Working with the Department, each community tailors the program to target problems associated with the criminal misuse of firearms and to build on local capacities.

    Since 2001, the Administration has dedicated over $1 billion in Federal resources to PSN, including grants to State and local task forces through OJP, increased Federal prosecutors within U.S. Attorneys Offices, and additional agent and training resources within ATF.

    Under the initiative, local task forces have been established or enhanced in each of 94 Federal judicial districts. Since 2001, Federal gun crime prosecutions have increased by 68 percent, while State and local prosecutions have also increased. Over 70 percent of the Federal convictions resulted in prison sentences of three years or more.

    New crime mapping and additional tools are now available to State and local law enforcement agencies. ATF and other Federal partners provide substantial training and support for these tools.

    Since 2001, DOJ has provided almost $100 million in grants to States to improve criminal history records, which help prevent firearms sales to those with criminal backgrounds. The Department will continue to implement the instant background check system by destroying, within 24 hours, identifying information of any person eligible to purchase a firearm, while also ensuring the legitimate interests of business owners and law enforcement are taken into account. Since 2001, DOJ has also provided $80 million in funding for Project Childsafe, which makes gunlocks available to gun owners to help prevent the misuse of firearms, especially by children.

Fighting Child Exploitation and Obscenity

    DOJ is committed to fighting child pornography and obscenity, and to protecting children from trafficking and other forms of exploitation. For example, during the last year, the Department worked with other law enforcement agencies to target, dismantle, and prosecute an international ring of organized and predatory child molesters. More than 100 child victims were rescued. Thirteen of the 20 identified molesters were American. All have been indicted (except one who committed suicide), and six have already been convicted.

    In the past year, the Department has dramatically expanded its efforts to deter child victim and obscenity crimes through new and effective uses of technology. The Criminal Division’s High Tech Investigative Unit (HTIU) is staffed with computer forensic experts, who bring technological expertise to bear against Internet-based child pornographers and adult obscenity offenders as they work in conjunction with Federal agents and prosecutors. The HTIU receives approximately 120 tips per month from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Federal Trade Commission. The Budget increases funding for the Criminal Division’s efforts, the FBI’s Innocent Images initiative, which investigates sexual predators who use the Internet to prey on children, and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces, which links Federal, State, and local law enforcement efforts.

    As a result of DOJ’s emphasis, the number of child exploitation and obscenity investigations and prosecutions handled by the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section has increased by more than 300 percent since 2001. The President’s 2005 Budget provides $42 million for Justice Department programs to protect children from exploitation and to fight obscenity, which is double the funding level appropriated in 2001. This will increase the number of investigators, prosecutors, and computer forensic specialists.

Violence Against Women

    Almost 700,000 incidents of domestic violence were committed in the United States in 2001. Approximately one-third of women who are murdered each year are killed by their current or former husband or partner. Children who are subjected to domestic violence often grow up to inflict violence on others, creating a cycle of violence that must be stopped.

    The Administration is requesting $385 million in 2005 for Violence Against Women Act programs that target domestic violence and strengthen services for victims and their dependents.

DNA Funding

    DNA technology is vital to ensuring the apprehension of criminals, as well as accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system. Where there is biological evidence, DNA can be used to identify criminals with unmatched accuracy. DNA evidence can also clear suspects and exonerate persons mistakenly or convicted of crimes.

    The President’s DNA initiative, Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology, which was released in 2003, devotes over $1 billion over five years to help realize the full potential of DNA technology in the criminal justice system. The initiative will help clear the backlog of unanalyzed DNA samples from the most serious violent offenders, invest in DNA analysis technology for crime labs, train criminal justice professionals to make better use of DNA evidence, and promote the use of forensic DNA to prosecute offenders and exonerate the innocent. The Administration proposes $236 million in 2005 for the initiative.

Protecting Victims of Radiation Exposure

    The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Trust Fund provides compensation to victims of disease or death following exposure to radiation released during atmospheric nuclear weapons testing and underground uranium mining from the 1940s to the 1970s. Exposure victims who are suffering from a compensable disease, including various types of cancer, and who meet statutory criteria regarding their radiation exposure, can qualify for awards of up to $100,000.

    Inadequate Trust Fund resources can cause delays in payment to victims who are often extremely ill and close to death. Based on current projections, the Fund will be exhausted in the middle of 2004 without the ability to pay eligible victims until 2005 funds become available.

    The Administration believes that failing to provide timely compensation to cancer victims exposed to radiation during Cold War atmospheric testing is unacceptable. The President’s 2005 Budget proposes $72 million in additional funds to ensure that eligible cancer victims can receive their RECA awards on time.

FIGHTING CORPORATE FRAUD

    The Administration strongly supports the fight against corporate fraud and understands the destructive effect that corporate misdeeds can have on investor confidence, workers’ savings, and the economy. The President established a multi-agency Corporate Fraud Task Force by Executive Order in July 2002, which is headed by the Deputy Attorney General, to combat corporate fraud and to help restore investor confidence. The President also signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which significantly increased the penalties for white-collar criminals and helped expose acts of corruption. Significant resources have been used to investigate and prosecute fraudulent activities by corporations and their leaders.

    These programs have been extremely successful, as evidenced by the increases in prosecutions and the positive economic indicators, which suggest that we are beating corporate fraud. Corporate leaders are being held to account. Within the first year, Task Force partners achieved over 250 corporate fraud convictions, and approximately 75 percent of these convictions led to prison sentences. FBI investigations of corporate fraud cases have increased by 80 percent over the past year as a result of the Administration’s emphasis on fighting fraud.

    In light of this success, the Administration proposes to continue its current level of funding within DOJ for these programs. This should continue to facilitate the identification, investigation and prosecution of corporate fraud.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF SELECT PROGRAMS

    The Budget continues to focus on improving program performance. Fifteen of DOJ’s programs have been assessed using the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), which evaluated each programs' design and purpose, strategic planning efforts, how well they are managed, and whether they are generating positive results for taxpayers. Below are some of the highlights and recommendations from the PART evaluations. For further details on DOJ’s performance assessments, see the White House budget website at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/.

UPDATE ON THE PRESIDENT’S MANAGEMENT AGENDA

    The table below provides an update on DOJ’s implementation of the President’s Management Agenda as of December 31, 2003.