Pubdate: Mon, 22 Oct 2001
Source: Abilene Reporter-News (TX)
Copyright: 2001 Abilene Reporter-News
Contact:  http://www.reporternews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1106

TRIALS, OTHER CASES ON HOLD AS FEDERAL AGENTS FOCUS ON TERRORIST PROBE

DALLAS (AP) - Federal agents across the country are being diverted to 
terrorist attack investigations and ongoing anthrax threats, leaving crime 
and justice on the home front unevenly attended and sometimes neglected, 
The Dallas Morning News reported in Sunday's editions.

"It takes people to do enforcement, and if we're focusing on this, then 
we've got to be doing less of that," said Susan Long, codirector of 
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research data center at 
Syracuse University that studies federal government enforcement, staffing 
and expenditures.

In the Northern District, a region stretching from Dallas-Fort Worth north 
to the Panhandle and south to San Angelo, the diversion has caused federal 
prosecutors to delay trials that depend on court appearances and continuing 
paperwork by agents. The newspaper examined preliminary case filings in the 
Northern District of Texas and conducted interviews with federal law 
enforcement authorities.

Senior officials for the FBI, ATF, and Drug Enforcement Administration in 
Dallas said they've pulled back from various local investigations to gather 
intelligence and check into more than 8,000 leads for the FBI's terrorism 
probe. None would give details about the extent of the pullback.

In Dallas, FBI Special Agent in Charge Danny Defenbaugh said that almost 
all nonterrorism investigations except those of the highest impact "have 
had to go to the back burner." He declined to elaborate.

Instead of policing gun shows, ATF agents in Dallas are working as sky 
marshals, processing FBI leads and leading a massive effort to check the 
security of explosives manufacturers.

Even the Dallas ATF's search dog has been diverted to provide security at 
public events.

In Plano, a federal judge declined federal prosecutors' request to let 
local police serve a search warrant for the FBI on a major fraud case, 
officials told the newspaper. The prosecutors then had to ask the Secret 
Service to scrounge an agent to supervise the warrant.

Dallas FBI spokeswoman Lori Bailey said the agency isn't ignoring routine 
crime. For instance, FBI agents still respond to bank robberies, though 
less manpower can be devoted to solve them, she said.

"I wouldn't say it's a good time to be a criminal," she said. 
"Administratively, we've been prioritizing. We're responding. We're 
investigating."

Still, Bailey said, "our focus is on terrorism, and I don't see any light 
at the end of that tunnel right now."

Meanwhile, there hasn't been a comprehensive federal budget proposal to 
bolster law enforcement agencies so they can handle new threats and old duties.

For now, the government is deploying the National Guard for airport 
security and some drug interdiction along the border. The newly established 
Office of Homeland Security, which will coordinate all law enforcement 
nationally, hasn't yet gained its footing.
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