Skip Main Navigation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
White House Website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICEMEETING PRESIDENTIAL GOALSProtecting America
Supporting a Compassionate Society
Making Government More Effective
PROTECTING AMERICACombating TerrorismThe President’s highest priority for the Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to be the detection, prevention, investigation, and prosecution of terrorist attacks against U.S. citizens and interests. In the past year, the Department made 1,428 counterterrorism-related arrests, and prosecuted and obtained convictions in 497 terrorism-related and anti-terrorism cases. The 2006 Budget further strengthens these counterterrorism efforts, and proposes significant funding increases for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the lead agency within DOJ for combating terrorism, to hire additional agents and intelligence analysts, as well as provide increased support to its counterterrorism mission. The FBI has received significant resource increases in recent years, with funding rising from $3.3 billion in 2001 to $5.1 billion in 2005. The Budget proposes $5.7 billion for the FBI in 2006, an increase of 11 percent over 2005. This level would support 2,945 counterterrorism agents and 2,746 intelligence analysts at the Bureau.
At the President’s direction, since September 11, 2001, the FBI has undergone a transformation in its priorities, as well as its organization. First, the President set clear goals to ensure that protecting the United States from terrorist attacks was the FBI’s top concern. Second, the FBI has utilized the vital tools of the USA PATRIOT Act to break down the wall separating law enforcement and intelligence functions, greatly improving coordination and information sharing within the Bureau. Third, the FBI established a comprehensive intelligence program to prevent terrorist attacks, an effort that has been accelerated by the passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The 2006 Budget supports the FBI’s priorities and intelligence reform by providing new funding of $294 million for counterterrorism and counterintelligence initiatives, and $117 million to bolster the intelligence program. These funding initiatives will:
The 2006 Budget provides $3.1 billion in homeland security-related funding for DOJ programs. In addition to the counterterrorism programs of the FBI and the Terrorist Screening Center, the Budget also includes funding for terrorism-related prosecution and detention, funds for converting older technology mobile radio and other systems to digital, narrowband communications, as well as State and local assistance programs such as the Regional Information Sharing System, USA Freedom Corps, and State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training. Targeting Drug TraffickersIn March 2002, the Attorney General announced a comprehensive six-part drug enforcement strategy for DOJ. The strategy deploys numerous Federal law enforcement agencies to identify and target the most significant drug supply organizations and their related components. The central element of the strategy was the development of the first national list of priority drug trafficking targets, the Consolidated Priority Organization Targeting (CPOT) list, a unified list of international “command and control” drug traffickers and money launderers. These organizations and their related components, including the financial infrastructure supporting those enterprises, are targeted for investigations. Of the 58 organizations targeted during 2003 to 2004, 14 have been dismantled and eight others have been severely disrupted. Currently, there are 730 active investigations linked to the 42 targets on the 2005 List. DOJ also has established a comprehensive benchmark for the most prevalent illicit drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, and intends to reduce their availability and use by 10 percent between 2001 and 2008. The Department’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is responsible for investigating drug trafficking organizations in tandem with the other Federal agencies participating in the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program. During 2004, DEA and OCDETF successfully dismantled 36 organizations linked to those on the CPOT List, and significantly disrupted the activities of 159 others. The 2006 Budget provides $38 million for enhancements in intelligence sharing and priority targeting, $14 million for the operation and maintenance of the Drug Intelligence Fusion Center, and $58 million for additional OCDETF agents, attorneys, and deputy marshals. In addition, a total of $22 million has been provided in support of the Administration’s Afghanistan counter-narcotics initiative, which is needed to help promote the long-term stability of the country, as well as stem the supply of heroin to the global narcotics market. Growth of the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Program
In 1990, Federal funds were appropriated to five areas of the United States that were considered the most critical high-intensity drug trafficking area “gateways” for drugs entering the Nation. The five regions included specific designated areas in Los Angeles, Houston, New York/New Jersey, South Florida, and the Southwest Border. Today, the program is no longer well focused. From a small targeted program in 1990, HIDTAs now include 60 percent of the population of the United States. The 2006 Budget also proposes transferring the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Program, operated by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, to DOJ in order for this drug control program to be better coordinated with OCDETF. The program has grown well beyond its intended scope from when it was first funded at $25 million in 1990 for only five regions experiencing high levels of drug trafficking. It now spends $227 million on 28 areas that include much of the populated United States. Efforts to focus the HIDTAs on the President’s National Drug Control Strategy priority of targeting high-level organizations such as the CPOT List have failed and have been hindered by the practice of funding individual HIDTAs at the same level year after year. As a result, the Budget proposes reducing HIDTA funding to create a better-focused, more effective $100 million program that gives Justice greater leeway to determine how funds will be targeted. Detaining Violent CriminalsThe Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee (OFDT) ensure that Federal criminals are appropriately detained and incarcerated to assure public safety. Taken together, the cost of Federal incarceration and detention activities now accounts for over a third of DOJ’s annual budget. At present, there are over 182,000 inmates in Federal custody, of which approximately 25 percent represent immigration-related arrests. In addition, the number of Federal detainees has experienced record growth, up almost 200 percent over the past decade with the largest increases occurring along the U.S. Southwest border due to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DOJ border enforcement and protection initiatives.
The 2006 Budget includes $85 million to open three new prisons (one high-security, one medium-security, and one secure women’s prison) and to expand two other facilities. When fully activated, these prisons will add a total of 3,164 beds to help meet BOP’s growing inmate capacity needs. In addition, $37 million is provided to pay for the added costs for food, security, medical care, and clothing of almost 4,300 inmates in existing BOP facilities, and $20 million in initial funding is included for 1,600 new private contract beds. While additional prison space is being added, the Budget continues a moratorium on additional new prison construction until the bureau completes an evaluation of its existing low- and minimum-security prison facilities for potential modification to house higher security inmates. BOP also has begun to institute several management initiatives to streamline operations and reduce costs, including consolidating correctional officer training, centralizing prisoner sentence and inmate designation functions, relocating human resource and employee development functions, and transferring inmates with the most critical medical needs to dedicated BOP medical centers. For 2006, $1.2 billion is provided to OFDT to support an average daily detainee population in excess of 60,000. The aggressive enforcement of the Administration’s law enforcement initiatives, and the resulting detainee population increase, has continued to challenge detention planning and forecasting. The Department is committed to enhancing its forecasting models, which requires balanced coordination among DOJ and DHS components. OFDT will improve forecasting by considering DOJ and DHS policy decisions, along with information received from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. DOJ law enforcement policies—for example, those relating to gun and drug initiatives—affect the number of Federal arrests and criminal prosecutions. The size and scope of DHS border control and protection initiatives—including putting more border patrol agents on the borders—influences the Federal prisoner and detainee populations and affects detention costs. Prosecuting Corporate Fraud and Violent CrimeThe United States Attorneys prosecute violators of Federal law including corporate criminals. Criminal penalties assessed by the Federal courts, mostly for U.S. Attorney criminal fraud prosecution efforts, increased by 30 percent in 2004. The 2006 Budget supports these ongoing activities with $1.6 billion. In addition, the Department’s litigating divisions are combating corporate fraud and other cases. And, in the past four years, this Administration has increased Federal prosecutions of the criminal misuse of firearms by 76 percent. In 2004, the Justice Department filed 11,067 Federal firearms cases, the highest number of such cases on record for a single year. Assisting State and Local Law EnforcementThe 2006 Budget includes $2.4 billion for State and local assistance programs, including Project Safe Neighborhoods, the DNA Initiative, USA Freedom Corps, State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training, and the Regional Information Sharing System. These and other programs funded within DOJ enhance the capability of State and local governments to reduce crime in our communities, as well as our vulnerability to terrorism. Today crime, including violent crime, is at a 30-year low. The Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative, announced by the President and the Attorney General in 2001, is a comprehensive strategy that brings together Federal, State, and local agencies to continue the record reduction in the violent crime in our communities. Working with the Department, each community tailors the program to target problems associated with the criminal misuse of firearms and to build on local capacities. Since 2001, the Administration has dedicated $1.3 billion in Federal resources to PSN, including grants to State and local task forces through the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), increased Federal prosecutors within U.S. Attorneys Offices, and additional agent and training resources within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). For 2006, the Budget requests $363 million for PSN, an increase of $138 million, or 61 percent, over the 2005 enacted level. The program increase will:
The 2006 Budget continues funding for the President’s DNA initiative, Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology, a plan to devote more than $1 billion over five years to help realize the full potential of DNA technology in the criminal justice system. The initiative advances the use of DNA to solve crimes and exonerate the innocent. The initiative will help clear the backlog of unanalyzed DNA samples from the most serious violent offenders, invest in DNA analysis technology for crime labs, train criminal justice professionals to make better use of DNA evidence, and promote the use of DNA to identify missing persons. The Administration proposes $236 million in 2006 for the initiative, an increase of over $68 million over the 2005 enacted level. Through the efforts of the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals, and State and local assistance, the Administration is committed to further reducing the violent crime rate in the Nation. In June 2004, the Attorney General announced a targeted effort to deploy teams of Federal law enforcement agents and prosecutors to 15 cities to work with local law enforcement to curb the rate of violent crime in some of the communities not sufficiently benefiting from the overall reduction in the crime rate. DOJ will continue to support the deployment of these Violent Crime Impact Teams as part of this initiative in 2006. SUPPORTING A COMPASSIONATE SOCIETYProtecting Our ChildrenDOJ is committed to fighting child pornography and obscenity, and to protecting children from trafficking and other forms of exploitation. The Department works with other law enforcement agencies to target, dismantle, and prosecute predatory child molesters and those who traffic in child pornography. The Criminal Division’s High-Tech Investigative Unit (HTIU) is staffed with computer forensic experts, who work with Federal agents and prosecutors and use their technological expertise against Internet-based child pornographers and adult obscenity offenders. The HTIU receives and reviews more than 100 tips per month from the Federal Trade Commission and organizations such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The Budget increases funding by $13 million for the Justice Department’s efforts to fight child pornography and obscenity, including the Criminal Division programs, the FBI’s Innocent Images Initiative, which investigates sexual predators who use the Internet to prey on children, and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces, which links Federal, State, and local law enforcement efforts.
Child abductions, especially by strangers, are among the most tragic of crimes. Yet, with the help of the growing AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert network, more children are being found and returned to their homes. AMBER Alerts are emergency alerts broadcast by local authorities when law enforcement discovers that a child has been abducted and is in imminent danger of harm. Since the President announced an Administration effort to expand and coordinate the AMBER Alert network in October 2002, AMBER Alert has been credited with the recovery of over 150 children, or over 80 percent of all 188 recoveries since AMBER Alert began in Texas in 1996. Today, there are 96 AMBER plans operating across the country, including 30 local, 17 regional, and 49 statewide plans. The Budget includes $5 million for the continued development of the successful AMBER Alert network across America. More than 600,000 incidents of domestic violence were committed in the United States in 2003. Approximately one-third of women who are murdered each year are killed by their current or former husband or partner. Children who are subjected to domestic violence often grow up to inflict violence on others, creating a cycle of violence that must be stopped. In the 2002 Budget, the President requested and secured a $100 million increase in funding for Violence Against Women Act programs and has continued to provide similar levels of funding in every Budget since then. In an effort to combat this problem, the Administration has obtained over $1.8 billion in funding since 2001 for programs that combat violence against women. The Budget requests $386 million for Violence Against Women Act programs that target domestic violence and strengthen services for victims and their dependents, which are funded primarily through DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women. Helping Prisoners and Ex-Offenders Reintegrate into SocietyMore than 600,000 offenders are released from prisons each year and face multiple barriers upon their return to society, including inadequate job skills and housing. Approximately two-thirds of prisoners are re-arrested within three years of their release, and half return to prison during that same period. To confront this problem, the President announced in his 2004 State of the Union Address a four-year $300 million Prisoner Re-entry Initiative to help individuals leaving prison make a successful transition to community life and long-term employment. Drawing on the collaborative efforts of the Departments of Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and Justice, and harnessing the experience of faith-based and community organizations, the program will offer a range of job training, housing, and mentoring services that will help reduce recidivism and ensure that former prisoners are reintegrated into society. The President’s Budget provides $75 million for this initiative in 2006, including $15 million within DOJ. Many in America’s prisons are struggling with substance abuse problems that hinder their successful reintegration into society. The President’s Budget provides $44.1 million for the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) Program. RSAT helps States and local governments implement drug treatment programs in correctional facilities so that offenders can reenter society free of addiction. Fighting Human TraffickingThe Administration is committed to ending trafficking in human beings, which is a modern day form of slavery and an affront to human dignity. According to some estimates, each year at least 700,000, and as many as four million people, primarily women and children, are trafficked around the world and exploited for sexual purposes or for labor without compensation. Of these, 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked annually into the United States. In 2002, President Bush signed Executive Order 13257 to establish a Cabinet-level Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, in which the Department actively participates. The FBI and the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division investigate cases of human trafficking in conjunction with DHS immigration and customs enforcement agents. From 2001 to 2003, the Department opened 210 new human trafficking investigations, more than double the number opened in the previous three years, and the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorneys initiated 111 trafficking prosecutions. In 2004, alone, the Department opened 130 trafficking investigations and undertook 51 prosecutions. MAKING GOVERNMENT MORE EFFECTIVEReducing or Eliminating Non-performing ProgramsThe President’s Budget reduces or eliminates a number of programs that do not have a record of demonstrating results, including:
Update on the President’s Management AgendaThe table that follows provides an update on DOJ’s implementation of the President’s Management Agenda as of December 31, 2004.
2 2004 mandatory outlays include completion of funding associated with the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||