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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

INTRODUCTION

Changes to the Budget Summary

The Justice Management Division, Budget Staff is pleased to introduce the Department’s revised FY 2005 Budget and Performance Summary.  For the first time, this traditionally exclusive budget document includes summary level information on the Department of Justice’s strategic goals, performance measures, and performance targets.  This introduction is intended to highlight the changes and revised format so that our traditional readers can navigate more easily through the document. 

First, there are no large-scale content changes to the information that was contained in prior budget summaries.  We have, however, improved the appearance of certain charts and tables and eliminated duplicative information.  These changes allowed us to add the necessary performance-related information to the document, while keeping the size of the document relatively the same. 

The FY 2005 Budget and Performance Summary is divided into three parts.  These Parts are described as follows:

PART ONE: Summary of Request and Performance

This section provides a summary of the Department of Justice’s strategic goals, FY 2004 and FY 2005 performance targets, and key information related to the President’s Management Agenda and the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART).

Each strategic goal summary contains the relevant performance measures and budget totals in order to present an integrated picture of both budget and performance.  Where departmental activities are administrative in nature (for example, the General Administration appropriation) the corresponding resources are spread among the four strategic goals.  These functions or activities are considered enabling functions to our main DOJ missions, and these resources are spread accordingly.  Component budgets are also restructured to present a performance-focused budget picture and include more detailed annual performance information addressing the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act.

Part TWO: Resource-Related Summary Tables

This section provides summary level resource-related charts and graphs.  The primary emphasis is to summarize the major FY 2005 changes across the Department and provide the reader with Departmental control totals to be used throughout the congressional review process.

Part THREE: Department of Justice Request Information by Appropriation

This section provides the reader with the FY 2005 Budget Request items by DOJ appropriation.  It is arranged in the order our appropriations appear in the FY 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act, and is a quick reference to the items of increase that are contained in the individual departmental components’ congressional justifications.

Previous Budget Summary documents contained duplicative information within this section, as well as duplication between the component level summaries and the summary tables.  As such, this year’s document was streamlined to reduce redundancy, without sacrificing the information or core exhibits that congressional staff and other readers have found useful in the past.

Changes to the Department’s Component FY 2005 Budget Submissions

Building on the Performance and Resource Table modified for the FY 2004 budget submission, this justification presents first, a program description to explain why these activities matter to achieving overall mission and goals.  Next, a sub-section is added to provide details on performance, resources, and strategies.  Here the performance plan is discussed and results are reported.  In addition, strategies to accomplish performance goals are outlined, along with details on program improvements and offsets that relate resources requested to these strategies.  Finally, results from any completed Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) reviews are presented.

We have removed exhibits that did not add value in today’s environment and added new exhibits to display more clearly the relationship between the resources requested and the Department’s Strategic Goals and Objectives, including the Program Improvements/Offsets by Decision Unit exhibit and the Resources by Strategic Goal/Objective exhibit.  Finally, we have grouped as many of the technical exhibits as possible in a new Appendix section, to simplify the overall presentation. 

We hope these and other changes are enhancements to the information you traditionally receive.  The Department of Justice seeks continuous process improvement and meeting its requirements to provide integrated budget and performance information for decision-making. 

Thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation. 

PART ONE:  SUMMARY OF REQUEST AND PERFORMANCE

OVERVIEW

The American people deserve the safest, most secure environment possible in which to live, work, and prosper.  The quality of American life is built upon a foundation of crime and terrorism prevention, nurtured by law enforcement cooperation and coordination, and rooted in our constitutional liberties.  The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ, the Department) seeks to protect all Americans while preserving their personal freedoms, to balance strict, tough enforcement of federal laws with abiding respect for individuals and their Constitutional rights. 

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, redefined the mission of the Department.  Under the leadership of the Attorney General, the Department continues to transform from a system focused on prosecution to a system focused on both prevention and prosecution.  Defending our nation and defending the citizens of America against terrorist attacks is now, and will remain, our first and overriding priority.  In fulfilling this mission, we are devoting all resources necessary to eliminate terrorist networks, to prevent terrorist attacks, and to bring to justice those who kill Americans in the name of murderous ideologies. 

In addition to our primary mission, the Department of Justice continues to enforce vigorously federal laws; deter, investigate and prosecute federal crimes, including gun, drug, and civil rights violations; incarcerate offenders; partner with state, local, community and faith-based groups to prevent crime, including crimes against children; and provide leadership and assistance in meeting the needs of crime victims.

Our mission is embedded in public law.  Our core values and identified strategic goals and objectives are outlined within The Department of Justice FY 2003-2008 Strategic Plan (that will be available on the Internet at http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/mps/strategic2003-2008/toc.htm).  This Plan sets forth long-term objectives and strategies, identifies crosscutting programs, and describes external factors that may affect goal achievement.

The Department’s FY 2005 budget request totals $22.2 billion, including $19.68 billion in discretionary funding.  The initiatives contained in this request support the Department’s four strategic goals.  A description of each goal and the related funding level follow:

STRATEGIC GOAL 1:  Prevent Terrorism and Promote the Nation’s Security

STRATEGIC GOAL 2:  Enforce Federal Laws and Represent the Rights and Interests of the American People

STRATEGIC GOAL 3: Assist State, Local, and Tribal Efforts to Prevent or Reduce Crime and Violence

STRATEGIC GOAL 4:  Ensure the Fair and Efficient Operation of the Federal Justice System

FY 2005 Budget Request by Strategic Goal
(Dollars are in billions)

d

FY 2005 Budget Highlights, KEY PERFORMANCE MEASURES, and resources by Strategic Goal

STRATEGIC GOAL 1:  Prevent Terrorism and Promote the Nation’s Security

Counterterrorism and National Security. This budget request includes resources for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to provide critical counterterrorism investigation capabilities.  This funding will allow the FBI to strengthen further its effort to identify, track, and prevent terrorist cells from operating in the United States and overseas. Principle increases provide funding to: improve the FBI’s intelligence capability; create a new Office of Intelligence to coordinate intelligence requirements and collect information; provide additional language translators and additional surveillance staff; continue counterterrorism investigations; and protect the United States from foreign government intelligence operations and espionage.

In addition, the budget request seeks funding for the operation and maintenance of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC).  Staffed jointly by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and other government agencies, TTIC's mission is to integrate and analyze terrorist threat-related information and distribute the information to the appropriate recipients, making it the single U.S. Government focal point for all terrorist threat information.  Furthermore, the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) ensures that government screeners utilize a current consolidated watch-list of known or suspected terrorists before granting benefits to individuals, such as visas to enter the country.   Although the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State are the primary participants in the TSC, funding for the TSC is centralized in the FBI.

A successful counterterrorism effort requires the cohesive intelligence, investigative, and prosecutorial efforts of many government agencies, including the federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies participating in Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF).  Since the events of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Attorneys and the Department’s Criminal Division have utilized the full cadre of anti-terrorism statutes to disrupt terrorist activities, including terrorist financing, and prosecute terrorist related cases.  This budget provides the resources required to more than double the number of counterterrorism agents prior to September 11, 2001.

STRATEGIC GOAL 2:  Enforce Federal Laws and Represent the Rights and Interests of the American People

Drug Enforcement.   Drug traffickers have grown in organization and sophistication and are now increasingly involved in terrorist activity as well.  Last year, with collaboration between federal law enforcement agencies, a single list of the major trafficking organizations responsible for the U.S. drug supply -- the Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT) list -- was developed.  Analysis of this list revealed that nearly one third of the organizations on the State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations also appear on our CPOT list of targeted U.S. drug suppliers.  Now, more than ever, efforts are focused to disrupt and terminate the money flow from illegal drug trafficking profits to terrorism needs.

The focus of the Department’s drug supply reduction strategy is accomplished through efforts of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program.  OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Marshals Service, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Coast Guard with litigating forces of the Criminal Division, Tax Division, and the United States Attorneys’ Offices. These law enforcement organizations cooperate to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations that are primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.  Currently, OCDETF investigations account for 83 percent of all CPOT investigations.  

OCDETF has placed renewed emphasis on expanding investigations beyond the initial investigative jurisdiction and into neighboring districts, states, and regions where related components of the targeted organization may be operating.  Nearly 90 percent of all OCDETF investigations are now multi-jurisdictional.  In addition, more than 70 percent of OCDETF investigations initiated in 2003 utilized financial investigative techniques.  The President’s Budget enhances the OCDETF program by: funding additional Assistant U.S. Attorneys and related support staff; creating dedicated fugitive apprehension units of U.S. Marshals who track down fugitives from OCDETF investigations; enhancing the Drug Intelligence Fusion Center by funding agents from FBI, DEA, and other Departments; and strengthening financial investigations by funding additional IRS agents to participate in OCDETF investigations.

The Department will also strengthen its efforts to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations by increasing the enforcement and analytical capacity of the DEA.  This budget provides the resources needed to restore the Department’s drug enforcement efforts to pre-September 11^th drug agent staffing level.

Guns and Explosives.  With the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Department of Justice was given responsibility for enforcement of federal laws relating to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is the lead federal agency responsible for regulating the alcohol and tobacco industries and plays a key role in the fight against violent crime and terrorism.  Explosives and firearms are the preferred tools of terrorists and violent criminal organizations.  In addition, ATF’s expanded responsibility under the Safe Explosives Act amendments requires that all persons procuring explosive materials obtain a federal permit. This includes additional funding for ATF to enforce the Safe Explosives Act to protect the public from hazardous explosives incidents and to prevent terrorists from acquiring explosives materials. 

This budget also supports the Department’s goal to interdict the flow of illegal firearms to youth through partnership with local law enforcement.  Since Federal firearms laws are tougher and result in longer sentences than similar state laws, prosecutions by U.S. Attorneys will ensure that gun-wielding criminals are placed behind bars for the longest possible time. 

Corporate Fraud.  The Administration continues the fight against corporate fraud.  Given the destructive effect that corporate misdeeds can have on investor confidence, workers’ savings, and the economy, the President established a multi-agency Corporate Fraud Task Force to combat corporate fraud and to help restore financial confidence.  The President also signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which significantly increased the penalties for white-collar criminals and helped expose acts of corruption.  The Department continues to lead the President’s aggressive response to corporate crime by dedicating significant resources to investigate and prosecute fraudulent activities by corporations and their leaders. 

These programs have been extremely successful, as evidenced by the increase in prosecutions and the positive economic indicators, which suggest that we are beating corporate fraud.  Corporate leaders are being held accountable.  Within the first year, Task Force partners achieved over 250 corporate fraud convictions, and approximately 75 percent of these convictions led to prison sentences.  As a result of the Administration’s emphasis on fighting corporate fraud, FBI investigations have increased by 80 percent over the past year. In light of this success, the Administration proposes to continue the Department’s current level of funding for these programs. 

Crimes Against Children and Obscenity.  In the Department’s effort to reduce the threat, incidence, and prevalence of violent crime, this budget also focuses on crimes against children. The Department is committed to protecting children from trafficking and other forms of exploitation.  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.  More than 100 child victims were rescued.  In addition, the Department dramatically expanded its efforts to deter child victim and obscenity crimes through new and effective uses of technology.  The Criminal Division’s High Tech Investigative Unit (HTIU) is staffed with computer forensic experts who work in conjunction with Federal agents and prosecutors to bring technological expertise to bear against Internet-based child pornographers and adult obscenity offenders.  The HTIU receives approximately 120 tips per month from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Federal Trade Commission.  The budget increases funding for the Criminal Division’s efforts and the FBI’s Innocent Images initiative, which investigates sexual predators who use the Internet to prey on children.

As a result of the Department’s emphasis, the number of child exploitation and obscenity investigations and prosecutions handled by the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section has increased by more than 300 percent since 2001.  The President’s Budget provides funding for Justice Department programs to protect children from exploitation and to fight obscenity by increasing the number of investigators, prosecutors and computer forensic specialists.

* ATF Data lags two years due to time lag in publication of Uniform Crime Report.
**Measuring reduction in the drug supply is a complex process reflecting of a number of factors outside the control of drug enforcement. Moreover, the impact of enforcement efforts on drug supply and the estimated availability are currently not measurable in a single year. Accordingly, DOJ is unable to set interim goals; however, we remain focused on achieving a long-term reduction of 10% by FY 2008, when compared to the baseline supply of drugs available for consumption in FY 2002.
***Data lags one year due to the requirement to audit data submitted by Trustees prior to reporting.

 STRATEGIC GOAL 3: Assist State, Local, and Tribal Efforts to Prevent or Reduce Crime and Violence

State and Local Assistance.  State and local law enforcement agencies are our critical partners in the war against terror and the fight against crime.  In the Office of Justice Programs, funding has been requested for the Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG), which combines and consolidates the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant program and the Byrne Formula Grant Program.  JAG will provide financial assistance to state and local jurisdictions aimed at crime reduction through locally determined projects.  The budget request also supports additional resources for the America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alert network which to date has recovered more than 100 children; grants to states to improve criminal history records which help prevent firearms sales to those with criminal backgrounds; and funding to make gunlocks available to gun owners to help prevent the misuse of firearms, especially by children.

Project Safe Neighborhoods.  In 2001, the President launched Project Safe Neighborhoods to reduce gun crime by getting violators off the streets.  In the past two years, there have been 130,000 fewer victims of gun crimes in the United States.  The Department is locking up predators by enforcing the gun laws, while we protecting law-abiding Americans’ Constitutional right to bear arms.  At the same time that gun crime has dropped, federal gun crime prosecutions have increased.  Over the last three years, federal gun prosecutions have increased by 68 percent and the majority of federal convictions have resulted in prison sentences of three years or more.

Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology.  DNA technology is increasingly vital to ensuring accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system.  In fact, the federal government and all 50 states have created laws requiring DNA to be collected from convicted offenders.  DNA evidence can be used to identify criminals, clear suspects, and exonerate persons mistakenly accused or convicted of crimes. 

Between 1997 and 2000, the Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reported a 73 percent increase in DNA casework analyzed and a 135 percent increase in their casework backlogs over the same time period.  The explosion of DNA collection resulted in hundreds of thousands of samples from crime scenes and offenders that are awaiting analysis in evidence storage lockers and forensic laboratories across the country.  The longer DNA evidence is unanalyzed, the longer the crimes to which it relates go unsolved.

In order to realize the vast potential of DNA technology, the current federal and state DNA collection and analysis systems must be improved. This budget will support the President’s initiative, Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology, which will provide funding over five years to help clear the backlog of unanalyzed samples, invest in crime lab technology, train criminal justice professionals to use DNA evidence, and promote the use of using forensic DNA to prosecute offenders and exonerate the innocent.

Drug Testing, Treatment, and Graduated Sanctions.  State and local demand reduction efforts offer those who are arrested and/or incarcerated the treatment they need to free themselves from the cycle of drugs and crime.  This budget provides funding for the continued support of drug court programs, targeted technical assistance, and training, an increase of 84 percent over the FY 2004 enacted funding level.  Drug court programs seek to divert chronic drug abusers from the traditional justice system and provide the coercive power of the judicial system to subject non-violent offenders to an integrated mix of treatment, drug testing, incentives and sanctions to break the cycle of substance abuse and crime.  Several evaluations suggest this approach is working.  In a recent study of 17,000 drug court participants, more than 70 percent were not re-arrested during the last two years. 

The Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program provides funds to State and local governments to develop and implement substance abuse treatment programs for convicted offenders.  This budget provides funding for RSAT to continue more than 300 programs that served over 38,000 offenders in 2003.

Reduce Violence Against Women and Family Violence.  In the words of President Bush, “though abuse may occur in the seclusion of a private residence, its effects scar the face of our nation.”   Domestic violence affects entire communities, damages children, and takes lives.  The Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that close to 700,000 incidents of domestic violence are documented every year, while other incidents go unreported.  FBI data confirms that in the past quarter of a century, nearly 57,000 individuals have been killed in incidents of family violence.

Since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act of 2000 (P.L 106-386), the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services have made it possible for countless women to change their lives and reclaim their dignity. This program helps communities increase support services for domestic violence victims and their children. This budget request provides funding to target violence against women by administering grants to help states, tribes, and local communities and transform the way in which criminal justice systems respond to violent crimes against women and their dependents.

*Reduction in homicide at Weed and Seed sites is calculated from the first year of the program to the fourth year of the program.

STRATEGIC GOAL 4:  Ensure the Fair and Efficient Operation of the Federal Justice System

Judicial System Support and Incarceration.  The U.S. Marshals Service ensures that the federal justice system operates in an effective and secure manner.  The increase in terrorist trials brings perspective to the growing need for courtroom security.  This budget request provides judicial and courtroom security for high threat events and maintenance and repair of existing security equipment.  Additionally, the U.S. Marshals Service has primary jurisdiction to conduct and investigate fugitive matters involving escaped federal prisoners; probation, parole, and bond violators; warrants generated by DEA investigations and other felony cases.  In 2003, the U.S. Marshals Service obtained custody of ten of its fifteen “most wanted” fugitives. This budget provides funding to continue that success.

The Department protects American society by providing for the safe, secure, and humane confinement of persons in federal custody through the efforts of the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee (OFDT) and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).  Recent projections indicate that the federal inmate population will grow by roughly 8,000 inmates from FY 2004-2005 reaching a level of 190,004 federal inmates. This growth will likely continue, exceeding 5,000 inmates per year through FY 2008.  This budget provides the Bureau of Prisons with funding to decrease overall projected crowding rates and to maintain safe and secure confinement institutions.

THE PRESIDENT’S MANAGEMENT AGENDA

The President’s Management Agenda (PMA) outlines five governmentwide goals, plus one identified initiative, that envision a results-oriented, citizen-centered government that fosters improved performance and effectiveness.   The President’s goals are: 1) Strategic Management of Human Capital; 2) Competitive Sourcing; 3) Improved Financial Management; 4) Expanded Electronic Government; 5) Budget and Performance Integration.  To these goals he adds a Faith-Based and Community Initiative.  The Department of Justice is committed to implementing this PMA.  A well-managed organization with highly skilled employees is essential to successfully implementing the PMA.  The Department has made significant progress in supporting the reforms outlined in the PMA, and the following chart highlights the progress made through the first quarter of FY 2004.

THE PROGRAM ASSESSMENT RATING TOOL (PART)

The Department recently finished the second cycle of OMB’s Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART).  We are using the results of these assessments in our continuing efforts to improve the Department’s programs, processes, and aid in the development of long-term measurable performance goals. Highlights from recent assessments can be found in the Department of Justice Chapter of the Budget of the United States.

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