Pubdate: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Copyright: 2001 Chicago Tribune Company Contact: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82 Author: Naftali Bendavid Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ashcroft.htm (Ashcroft, John) ASHCROFT PROPOSES SHAKE-UP OF AGENCIES Details Sketchy; Congress Dubious WASHINGTON -- Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft announced a "wartime reorganization and mobilization" of the Justice Department on Thursday, saying he would move 10 percent of the department's Washington workforce to the field and spend roughly $2.5 billion more to fight terrorism. In addition, Ashcroft wants to focus the FBI and Immigration and Naturalization Service -- two of the department's highest-profile agencies - -- on anti-terrorism efforts. "When terrorism threatens our future, we cannot afford to live in the past," he said. "The department will not be all things to all people. We cannot do everything we once did, because lives now depend on us doing a few things very well." The plan submitted to Congress offered few specifics, and much of it was fashioned from previous initiatives. But along with President Bush's speech in Atlanta on Thursday, it appears to be part of a broader attempt to show that the administration is taking strong action against terrorism. Reorganization plans in Washington often face fierce opposition, especially if the agency abandons some of its longtime missions, as Ashcroft suggested would happen. Lawmakers wasted little time Thursday expressing their reservations about the changes. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged the Justice Department to look more closely at its counterterrorism failures before plowing ahead with an overhaul. "You cannot plan for the future effectively without knowing what went wrong in the past," he wrote Ashcroft. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) also was skeptical. "As with any reorganization, the devil will be in the details," he said. "I hope for new accountability measures, not just structural changes." Ashcroft said the moves are crucial for the 125,000-employee department to reshape itself into an efficient fighting force against terrorism. It remains to be seen if the public's mood since the Sept. 11 attacks--nervousness coupled with a demand for strong action--will be enough to overcome resistance to the proposed changes. The attorney general said the United States has won a victory since the Sept. 11 hijackings because there have been no additional terrorist attacks, despite "two periods of extremely high risk." That was a reference to the two nationwide alerts issued by the FBI. "The home front has witnessed the opening battle in the war against terrorism, and America has emerged victorious," Ashcroft said. He suggested the lack of more terrorist acts was because of the nation's heightened vigilance, but acknowledged there was no way of knowing for certain. Those In For Changes The Justice Department is made up of the FBI, the INS and the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as other components such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Bureau of Prison; the Civil Rights Division; and the U.S. attorney's offices. It was not clear from Ashcroft's announcement how money and employees would be shuffled in the reorganization. In the meantime, specifics were left to the future. For example, pressed on the declared goal of moving 10 percent of the Justice Department's headquarters employees to the field, department officials could not say where exactly they would go or even how many people would be involved. And they described the 10 percent figure as a general goal, not a definite plan. This is not the first time Justice Department officials have promised to move people into the field. During his eight-year tenure, former FBI Director Louis Freeh undertook a similar initiative, moving agents from Washington to other locations across the country. Department officials, however, could not say how the latest proposals would fit into what Freeh had done. In declaring his intent to save 10 percent of the Justice Department's budget through streamlining and consolidation, Ashcroft provided no details. The roughly $2.5 billion savings would be spent on counterterrorism efforts, officials said. "In today's Justice Department, multiple agencies perform similar functions," Ashcroft said. "Within six months, we must have in place a detailed plan to streamline, eliminate or consolidate duplicative functions." Again, this is not the first time officials have announced such plans. Shortly after taking office, some in the Clinton administration wanted to merge the FBI and the DEA, two agencies many considered redundant. That proposal was killed by passionate opposition from DEA supporters. Refocusing Agencies FBI Director Robert Mueller has been working for weeks on a proposal to refocus his agency on fighting terrorism. The bureau now handles an enormous array of federal crimes ranging from drug dealing to espionage to terrorism to kidnapping. The bureau's jurisdiction has greatly expanded over the past 10 years, and the new plan, whose first draft is due by year's end, would reverse that trend. Officials are expected to propose that the FBI leave certain routine crimes to state and local police, which is likely to be controversial. The plan to reform the immigration service has also been in the works for some time, though it gained greater urgency after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon by terrorists, some of whom had visa violations. Critics recommend splitting the agency, saying the law-enforcement work of the Border Patrol is completely different from such services as processing visas. Ashcroft suggested Thursday that he was moving toward such a shift. If visa processing is handled by another agency, he hinted, the INS could emphasize law enforcement and concentrate on keeping out terrorists. But immigration advocates fear this would lead to harsher treatment of immigrants, and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said he would want to scrutinize any such plan. "The thumbnail sketch outlined today by Atty. Gen. Ashcroft warrants a healthy amount of skepticism and caution before any steps are taken to implement it," Gutierrez said. "It must be followed with strict and solid assurances that immigrants themselves would benefit from such radical changes." Meanwhile, an emergency rule allows the Justice Department to listen in on the conversations between lawyers and their clients in federal custody whenever deemed necessary to prevent violence or terrorism. Ashcroft approved the eavesdropping rule last week. In a very small number of cases, it permits the government to monitor conversations and intercept mail between people in custody and their attorneys for up to a year. The move is opposed by defense lawyers and civil libertarians who consider it an unconstitutional attack on attorney- client privilege. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth