Since 9/11 FBI Priorities Not on Fraud

If it seems like sophisticated fraud and other white-collar crime is on the rise that may be because it is. In the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks Bush administration has refocused the FBI on fighting terror and this has left far fewer agents to target the cases the bureau has traditionally pursued.^[1] It adds up to thousands of white-collar criminals nationwide who are no longer prosecuted in federal court, frustrated victims and potentially billions of dollars in fraud and theft losses.^[2]

More than five years after the 2001 attacks, the Justice Department has failed to replace at least 2,400 agents detailed to focus on counterterrorism.^[3] "Politically, this trade-off has been accepted…but do the American people know this trade-off has been made?" said Charles Mandigo, a former FBI congressional liaison.^[4]

While the U.S. Justice Department and the Office of Management and Budget steadfastly deny that traditional criminal enforcement by the FBI hasn't suffered.^[5] The Seattle Post-Intelligencer(P-I) ran a six-month investigation and analyzed more than a quarter-million cases touched by FBI agents and federal prosecutors before and after Sept. 11, 2001.^[6] Among their key findings:

• Overall, the number of criminal cases investigated by the FBI nationally has steadily declined. In 2005, the bureau brought slightly more than 20,000 cases to federal prosecutors, compared with about 31,000 in 2000 - a 34 percent drop.^[7]
• FBI investigations of white-collar crime have also plummeted. In 2005, the FBI sent prosecutors 3,500 cases - a fraction of the more than 10,000 cases assigned to agents in 2000.^[8]
• Had the FBI continued investigating financial crimes at the same rate as it had before the terror attacks, about 2,000 more white-collar criminals would be behind bars, according to the P-I analysis, which was based on Justice Department data from 1996 through June 2006.^[9]

A report in September 2005 by the Justice Department's inspector concluded that the FBI "reduced its investigative efforts related to traditional crimes by more than 2,400 agents."^[10] The report asserted that in addition to the 1,143 agents transferred away from traditional crime programs, the FBI used 1,279 agents on counterterrorism work, even though they were on the books as criminal-program agents.^[11] Over the past eight years, the ranks of FBI agents have increased, from about 11,000 to 12,575, and virtually all of them are assigned to anti-terrorism duties.^[12]

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^[1] Seattle P-I: FBI's terror focus leaves fewer agents on crime, Associated Press Newswire, Apr. 11, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[2] Paul Shukovsky, The success of counterterrorism efforts difficult to evaluate, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Apr. 10, 2007, available at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/311085_terrorside11.html (last visited Apr. 11, 2007).
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] AP, supra note 1 (“The administration strongly disagrees that the FBI has been anything less than effective in the years since 9/11 in combating domestic crime issues…..[w]e have worked to achieve a balance between the FBI's homeland security and criminal investigative missions."said OMB spokesman Sean Kevelighan.)
^[6] Shukovsky, supra note 2.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.
^[9] I.d
^[10] AP, supra note 1.
^[11] Id.
^[12] Id.