Pubdate: Fri, 31 May 2002
Source: Northwest Florida Daily News (FL)
Copyright: 2002 Northwest Florida Daily News
Contact:  http://www.nwfdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/313

FBI REMDODELING JOB TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

The FBI reorganization announced by Director Robert Mueller hardly lives up 
to the promise to "fundamentally change the way we do business." But it 
includes an implicit admission that deserves more exploration.

By announcing that 400 FBI agents would be shifted immediately from drug 
law enforcement to anti-terrorism units, Mr. Mueller acknowledged without 
saying so that the "drug war" is a distraction from the main mission of 
preventing terrorism. It's too bad that he didn't acknowledge this 
explicitly - or take the next logical step and admit that drug prohibition, 
by increasing the profits available to the most ruthless of traffickers, 
helps to fund international terrorism - but his actions had a certain quiet 
eloquence.

Other than that, however, the reorganization plans amount to superficial 
patchwork - and might aggravate the problems posed by the uncontrolled 
recent growth of dozens of federal law enforcement agencies.

Consider the implications of the recent flap over memos and requests from 
FBI field offices in Phoenix and Minneapolis. The Phoenix memo got lost in 
the paperwork shuffle; hundreds of similar memos hit headquarters every 
day. The Minneapolis request to issue a warrant to search Zacarias 
Moussaoui's computer fell victim to bureaucratic timidity and fears of 
being accused of "ethnic profiling."

Creating a more centralized anti-terrorist operation with more FBI agents 
is not likely to solve such problems. It is more likely to make a paperwork 
glut and communications difficulties even worse.

As Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley put it, "Mueller should take the advice of FBI 
whistleblower Coleen Rowley and not try to investigate terrorists out of 
bureaucrat central, FBI headquarters."

The Bush administration has missed a golden opportunity to effect genuinely 
fundamental reform of the federal law enforcement octopus.

At least 40 federal agencies have some responsibility for gathering 
intelligence with some relationship to terrorism. Even if they all had the 
latest and most sophisticated computer database and networking systems - 
they're in the Model-T era, computerwise - it would be difficult for them 
to share information effectively. Furthermore, each agency has more 
powerful incentives to protect its own turf than to work well with others.

As Timothy Lynch, director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal 
Justice, put it: "The Sept. 11 attacks gave the administration a historic 
opportunity to do a real overhaul of federal law enforcement, perhaps to 
roll up all those agencies into one focused unit and return more law 
enforcement responsibility to states and local jurisdictions. But that 
would have required taking on entrenched bureaucratic interests. This 
announcement suggests President Bush has no stomach for what needs to be done."

Many of the reforms announced by Mr. Mueller require congressional 
approval. Several congressional committees have also announced probes into 
the pre-9/11 lapses. They should broaden their scope to consider more 
fundamental reform.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom