Pubdate: Fri,  5 Jul 2002
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Gary Fields, Staff Reporter Of The Wall Street Journal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?194 (Hutchinson, Asa)

DEA SHIFTS 40 SPECIAL AGENTS TO SOUTHWESTERN BORDER DUTY

WASHINGTON -- The Drug Enforcement Administration is boosting the number of 
special agents on the southwestern border by 40, part of an effort to 
replace Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel being shifted from drug 
investigations to antiterrorism duty.

Drug Enforcement Administrator Asa Hutchinson said the agency also is 
working on a reorganization plan aimed at transferring more personnel out 
of their Washington headquarters to field offices.

Amid criticism of the government's antiterrorism efforts leading up to the 
Sept. 11 attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller in May unveiled a plan for 
400 FBI agents to be shifted to counterterrorism duties from working drug 
cases around the country. The announcement sparked discussion among some in 
Congress and local law-enforcement communities who wondered how those 
vacancies would be filled.

"We're going through a very vigorous process of reviewing our allocation of 
manpower and how that lines up with where the FBI is pulling out agents 
from drug enforcement and also where the threats are," said Mr. Hutchinson.

The first step is to move 40 agents from various offices, including 
headquarters, to the southwest border, which includes the DEA's offices in 
El Paso, Texas, Houston, Phoenix and San Diego, along with a number of 
satellite offices in the area. "The southwest border is the biggest 
threat," said Mr. Hutchinson. The reassignments and transfer of positions 
will increase the number of agents in the area by 6%, he said.

In addition, he is doing an assessment to "meet the president's goal of a 
10% reduction of headquarters staff." Those staff positions will likely be 
transferred to field offices to meet the FBI's proposed cuts in drug 
investigators.

"It would be agents but also the technical people and the intelligence 
analysts," Mr. Hutchinson said. "We're looking at all of that and trying to 
put more people out in the field."

It is unlikely that it will be a "one-to-one" trade-off in terms of DEA 
agents added to FBI agents lost, he said. "We're trying to honestly 
evaluate it and not just say they're pulling out 400 agents so we need 400 
agents."

According to DEA figures, there are 1,776 positions authorized for 
headquarters, including 191 special agents. The other employees who could 
be shifted include chemists, intelligence analysts, program analysts, 
clerical personnel and diversion investigators who regulate industries like 
pharmaceuticals.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom