DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FY 2006 BUDGET REQUEST

President’s Request Supports 16.6% Increase for Department’s Counterterrorism and Homeland Defense Efforts

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today announced that the President’s FY 2006 budget proposal for the Department of Justice (DOJ) is $19.1 billion. The President’s overall FY 2006 budget requests $535.2 million in new investments for preventing and combating terrorism-including counterintelligence-reflecting the Department of Justice’s top priority: preventing terrorist attacks.

“The first priority of the Department of Justice is to protect the American people from acts of terrorism,” said Attorney General Gonzales. “The President’s budget provides a 312 percent increase in counterterrorism funding since FY 2001 and a nearly 17 percent increase for counterterrorism and homeland defense efforts this year. Whether fighting the war on terror, combating the threat of drugs, or vigorously enforcing the nation’s gun laws, the President’s budget gives the Department the resources to continue protecting Americans and keeping our streets safe.”

The Department’s strategic plan contains four mission-focused goals that are the foundation of the President’s FY 2006 budget request:

Strategic Goal 1: Prevent Terrorism and Promote the Nation’s Security, $3.13 billion;

Strategic Goal 2: Enforce Federal Laws and Represent the Rights and Interests of the American People, $8.23 billion;

Strategic Goal 3: Assist State, Local, and Tribal Efforts to Prevent or Reduce Crime and Violence, $1.87 billion; and

Strategic Goal 4: Ensure the Fair and Efficient Operation of the Federal Justice System, $7.49 billion.

PROTECTING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BY PREVENTING TERRORIST ACTS

Protecting the American people by preventing, investigating, and prosecuting terrorist acts continues to be the Department of Justice’s top priority. The budget request strengthens the nation’s counterterrorism investigative capabilities to identify, track, and prevent terrorist cells from operating in the U.S. and overseas, and enhances the nation’s counterintelligence analysis capabilities. The FY 2006 budget includes funding to strengthen the FBI Counterterrorism Program, including resources to hire 288 new Counterterrorism Program agents, as well as additional agent and support resources that contribute to the FBI’s counterterrorism mission. Within the Department, the FBI has 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 FY 2006 budget includes funding to strengthen the FBI’s Intelligence Program, including resources to hire an additional 499 intelligence analysts.

Federal Bureau of Investigation

ENFORCING FEDERAL LAWS AND REPRESENTING THE RIGHT AND INTERESTS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

DRUG ENFORCEMENT: The Department of Justice aggressively targets drug crime through a comprehensive six-part drug enforcement strategy. This strategy uses the combined talent and expertise of all federal law enforcement agencies to identify and target the most significant drug supply organizations and their related components. The Department has developed a national list of priority drug trafficking targets, known as the Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT) List, which represents a unified list of international “command and control” drug traffickers and money launderers. The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) brings together major agencies such as the DEA and FBI, the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, and U.S. Attorneys across America to disrupt and dismantle major organizations. The DOJ FY 2006 President’s budget requests new investments of $245.4 million to continue reducing drug use and attacking drug suppliers.

GUN CRIMES ENFORCEMENT: Under the leadership of President Bush, the Justice Department has pledged that gun crime will mean hard time. Through the President’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies come together to identify the most pressing gun crime problems in their communities and develop strategies to attack those problems through prevention, deterrence, and aggressive prosecution. The Department has also launched a companion initiative, creating the Violent Crime Impact Teams (VCIT). VCITs combine the efforts of federal agencies and state and local law enforcement to target gun crime “hot spots,” identifying the worst criminals operating in those areas and working to arrest the suspects while disrupting and dismantling the violent criminal street gangs operating in that area. VCIT is currently active in 10 cities, expanding to 25 cities in the FY 2006 budget. The FY 2006 DOJ budget includes $31.3 million in new investments for these and other gun crimes enforcement initiatives.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

Criminal Division

Crimes Against Children and Obscenity: The Department of Justice is aggressively defending children from child pornography and obscenity, and protecting them from trafficking and other forms of exploitation. For example, during the last year, the Department worked with other law enforcement agencies to target, dismantle, and prosecute an international ring of organized and predatory child molesters. Also during the last year, the FBI has dedicated a team of six agents to work with state and local detectives as an investigative task force devoted solely to making cases against national-scale obscenity distributors.

The President’s budget requests the resources to continue leading efforts that protect our citizens, particularly our children, from crime, child pornography, and obscenity, and to assist state and local law enforcement in their related efforts. This includes key initiatives to:

The FY 2006 President’s budget request includes an additional $10.4 million in new investments to combat crimes against children and obscenity.

LITIGATION: Department of Justice lawyers are in courtrooms every day across America. The Department serves as the nation’s chief litigator, taking criminals off the street and striving to keep America’s communities safe, protecting the laws passed by Congress, combating civil fraud, safeguarding the environment, preserving a competitive market structure, restoring integrity to the marketplace, and preserving the integrity of the nation’s bankruptcy system. The President’s FY 2006 Budget request includes funding to fortify the U.S. Attorneys’ immigration and intellectual crime prosecutions; the Criminal Division’s ability to investigate and prosecute child sex exploitation, trafficking, and obscenity; the Civil Division’s efforts to address immigration litigation; and the work of the Environment and Natural Resource Division. The President’s FY 2006 budget request includes $31.6 million in new investments for the Department’s litigation.

ASSISTING STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL EFFORTS TO PREVENT OR REDUCE CRIME AND VIOLENCE

The Department’s portion of the President’s FY 2006 budget includes over $1.5 billion in grant assistance to states and localities, including $185.3 million to strengthen communities through programs providing services such as drug treatment, $90.3 million to fight terrorism, $335 million to combat violence, including enhancements to grant funding provided under Project Safe Neighborhoods; $235.2 million for law enforcement technology, including funding to continue and enhance President Bush’s DNA initiative; and $92.5 million to support drug enforcement, including funding to continue and expand the Southwest Border Drug Prosecution Program. In addition to this funding, the Administration has maintained its commitment to provide funding to state and local governments across federal agencies for homeland security by including over $3.5 billion in funding for these programs in FY 2006.

ENSURING THE FAIR AND EFFICIENT OPERATION OF THE FEDERAL JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The Department is responsible for ensuring that the federal justice system operates in an effective, efficient, and secure manner by protecting judicial proceedings, ensuring the safe and secure environment of the federal courts, and apprehending fugitives from justice.

During FY 2004, the nation’s federal prison population rose 4.3 percent, by 7,396 inmates. During FY 2004, the federal prisoner detention population rose 11.8 percent, increasing by approximately 5,200 detainees per day. The President’s FY 2006 budget request provides significant resources needed to improve courtroom security and the detention and incarceration of those accused or convicted of violent crimes. The request provides additional resources for the Bureau of Prisons and Office of the Detention Trustee to manage this growth, including activation costs for three new facilities. The FY 2006 DOJ budget requests $509.6 million in new investments in these areas.

MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: The Department has established a series of 10 management initiatives which address overall departmental management efficiencies as well as specific focus areas such as improved financial management and the promotion of information technology to enhance information-sharing capabilities. The President’s FY 2006 budget request includes $149.4 million in new investments for critical Department-wide initiatives that support Strategic Goals I through IV and the Department’s top 10 management goals.

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