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Last week, the U.S. commission examining the Sept. 11 attacks issued a statement of facts that helps explain why the Federal Bureau of Investigation failed to stop the al-Qaeda plot. Counter-terrorism just wasn't a priority for the FBI, the commission said. Instead, the bureau was too busy fighting the never-ending war on drugs.
"As the terrorism danger grew, (FBI) Director (Louis) Freeh faced the choice of whether to lower the priority the FBI attached to work on general crime, including the war on drugs, and allocate those resources to terrorism," the commission noted.
Formally, the FBI did make terrorism the priority, but "it did not shift its human resources accordingly." In 2000, "there were twice as many agents devoted to drug-enforcement matters as to counter-terrorism" and even agents who were assigned to counter-terrorism were often moved temporarily to drugs and crime.
The 9/11 commission also noted that on May 9, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft testified at a hearing that the Justice Department had no higher priority than preventing terrorism. But a day later, "the department issues guidance for developing the fiscal year 2003 budget that made reducing the incidence of gun violence and reducing the trafficking of illegal drugs priority objectives." The directive didn't even mention counter-terrorism. The FBI's misallocation was confirmed immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks when more than 400 agents were shifted to counter-terrorism -- almost all coming from drug investigations
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Published: Saturday, April 24, 2004
Copyright: 2004 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: letters@thecitizen.canwest.com
Website: Ottawa Citizen
"As the terrorism danger grew, (FBI) Director (Louis) Freeh faced the choice of whether to lower the priority the FBI attached to work on general crime, including the war on drugs, and allocate those resources to terrorism," the commission noted.
Formally, the FBI did make terrorism the priority, but "it did not shift its human resources accordingly." In 2000, "there were twice as many agents devoted to drug-enforcement matters as to counter-terrorism" and even agents who were assigned to counter-terrorism were often moved temporarily to drugs and crime.
The 9/11 commission also noted that on May 9, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft testified at a hearing that the Justice Department had no higher priority than preventing terrorism. But a day later, "the department issues guidance for developing the fiscal year 2003 budget that made reducing the incidence of gun violence and reducing the trafficking of illegal drugs priority objectives." The directive didn't even mention counter-terrorism. The FBI's misallocation was confirmed immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks when more than 400 agents were shifted to counter-terrorism -- almost all coming from drug investigations
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Published: Saturday, April 24, 2004
Copyright: 2004 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: letters@thecitizen.canwest.com
Website: Ottawa Citizen