Drug war takes hit
as FBI shifts priority

Focusing on terrorism means
fewer agents to fight organized crime

WASHINGTON >> When the FBI shifted its focus to anti-terrorism efforts, investigations targeting illegal drugs, organized crime and white-collar crime took the biggest hit, according to a Justice Department report yesterday.

The report by Glenn Fine, the department's inspector general, provides the first detailed look at where the FBI moved resources following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Fine said the review, which drew no conclusions about the wisdom of the changes, did show that the FBI's changes "generally were in line with its post-Sept. 11 priorities."

The greatest reduction occurred in the FBI's organized crime and drug program, which lost 758 agents to counterterrorism matters between 2000 and 2003.

According to FBI officials in Honolulu and on the mainland, the No. 1 priority is to protect the United States from terrorists. The second priority is to protect the country against foreign intelligence operations and espionage, and the third is to protect against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes.

"It's no secret the FBI's priorities have shifted," said Honolulu FBI Special Agent Arnold Laanui, "but that doesn't mean we're out of the crime-fighting business."

Nationally, the largest cuts occurred in investigations involving Mexican drug organizations, primarily in the Southwest, the report said. Another 321 agents were shifted from white-collar crime investigations -- especially health care fraud -- and 286 were moved from violent-crime programs such as tracking down fugitives.

The report found that the FBI opened about 17,000 fewer cases in the programs most affected by the shift in priorities. Of those, the biggest change was the 11,600 fewer fugitive cases opened by the FBI.

Other federal agencies are picking up the slack in some areas. The Drug Enforcement Administration, for example, is increasing its focus on drug investigations, while the U.S. Marshals Service has instituted a broader effort involving state and local police to catch fugitives.

On Oahu the FBI is cross-deputizing Honolulu police detectives as federal agents so that they can work on local crimes that otherwise would fall under the FBI's jurisdiction, such as bank robberies and carjackings.

The creation of the HPD's Honolulu Violent Incident Crime Task Force began in 2002 and has solved all 12 bank robberies this year.

One of the report's finding was that despite a nationwide decrease of 26 percent in agents assigned to bank robbery cases, the FBI actually opened 485 more bank robbery cases during 2003 than in 2000.

The report also found that in 2003 the FBI used more agents for terrorism investigations than were allocated for that purpose by its budget. More than 3,600 agents worked terrorism matters last year, compared with 2,811 set by the budget.

The FBI had no immediate comment on the report, which was released publicly in edited form to remove classified material.