A Changing World

The Department's strategic direction for fiscal years 2001-2006 builds on these developments in the Nation's justice system. It also recognizes that, despite recent successes, the challenges ahead are formidable. Many of the issues that have occupied our time and attention the past several decades will continue but their shape and prevalence will be influenced by a changing external environment. In addition, new issues, some impossible to fully discern at present, will emerge. Two trends that will significantly affect the crime and justice challenges we face in the coming five years are largely visible now: globalization and technology.

Globalization. The world is a smaller place. People, goods, and capital increasingly flow with ease across territorial borders. These developments provide many benefits, including increased trade. At the same time, they present new opportunities for criminal acts and new threats to safety and security. These threats include the imminent possibility for terrorist attacks and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. They also include smuggling of illegal drugs and weapons; trafficking in humans; money laundering schemes; and the use of illegal offshore tax havens.

Even before the terrorist attacks of September 2001, the trend toward globalization had profound effects on the Department. In response, we have emphasized international partnerships in dealing with issues ranging from immigration and drug control to antitrust enforcement and the environment. We have pursued a variety of approaches to strengthening international cooperation. These include participating in the International Police Organization (INTERPOL); entering into mutual legal assistance treaties and other international agreements; providing training and technical assistance to foreign counterparts; and supporting bilateral and multilateral initiatives. In the years ahead, we anticipate that the Department's work will continue to include a substantial international dimension.

Advances in Science and Technology. Rapid developments in technology are radically changing almost every facet of life. They are altering the way we do business and conduct government, speeding communications, expanding opportunities for cultural and political expression, and greatly increasing access to a wealth of information and services. More and more, almost anyone can connect to a worldwide communications network at anytime and from anyplace.

But the benefits of an increasingly technology-dependent and interconnected world are accompanied by new challenges, including issues of privacy, security, and accessibility. Our reliance on interconnected information technology infrastructures makes us more vulnerable to possible terrorist attacks on these infrastructures. Technology is also providing new opportunities for other crimes, including fraud, theft of intellectual property, price fixing, and child pornography.

For the Department, staying abreast with, and taking advantage of, the technology revolution is especially critical. It affects every area of our work--from our attorneys who will deal with the complex legal issues technology raises, our law enforcement personnel who increasingly depend on technological tools and resources to detect and investigate crimes, to our immigration officers who rely on technology to provide timely information and services. Advances in DNA and other forensic technologies, for example, have already significantly impacted law enforcement and prosecutorial activities.

The success the Department has in accomplishing its mission over the next five years depends greatly upon its ability to anticipate and utilize the scientific and technological advances sweeping the globe. In addition to continuing breakthroughs in information technology, these are likely to include developments in biotechnology and bioengineering (such as the decoding of the human genome), and nanotechnology (the ability to manipulate matter at the atomic and molecular level).

Perhaps most daunting is simply the pace with which technology is advancing. The Department must prepare for these future developments. At the same time, it must ensure that it has an advanced, robust and reliable information infrastructure able to support its mission and provide the level of service citizens have a right to expect.

Key Crime and Justice Challenges Over the Next Five Years

Globalization and scientific and technological advances are overarching trends that will affect virtually every aspect of the Department's work in the years ahead--whether in the criminal justice arena, in administering the immigration laws, or in ensuring competitive practices in the new global economy. Some of the specific issues we expect to focus on include:

Terrorism. Terrorist incidents within the United States have been on the rise, beginning with the bombings of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The attacks of September 2001 demonstrated the Nation's vulnerability to such crimes and the need to strengthen its defenses against them. Improved transportation and telecommunications technologies and rapid advances in the miniaturization of electrical and mechanical devices make it easier for both amateurs and sophisticated organizations to plan and carry out attacks on people and property. At the same time, possible attacks on information infrastructures and the emerging threats of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons make the potential consequences of terrorism more dire.

Worldwide Drug Trafficking. The supply and trafficking of illegal drugs into the United States continue to be fueled by a number of international and transnational drug trafficking organizations, many of which have amassed vast financial resources, are well-organized, extremely sophisticated, and use deadly violence to further their criminal aims. Despite successes against the Cali and Medellin cartels, a diverse group of smaller, more specialized and entrepreneurial Colombian drug rings and Mexican and Caribbean transportation organizations has emerged to fill the void left by their collapse.

Violence. Violence is still far too prevalent in American communities. Young people are especially at risk, both as potential victims and perpetrators of violent acts. American Indians are twice as likely as other U.S. residents to be victims of violent crime. Firearms are used in about one-fourth of all violent crimes--and 65 percent of all homicides. About 30 percent of all female murder victims are killed by their intimate partners.

White Collar/Economic Crimes. With the information technology revolution, opportunities for white collar crime increase. White collar crime inflicts both financial and social costs. Health care fraud, for example, not only siphons off billions of dollars paid out for fraudulent claims but also may disguise inadequate and improper treatment of patients, posing a threat to the health and safety of Americans. Antitrust violations harm American consumers, and environmental crimes threaten our natural world, including the air we breathe and the water we drink.

Substance Abuse and Crime. Research indicates that there is a clear nexus between substance abuse and crime. In 1997, three-quarters of state and federal prison inmates reported being involved with alcohol or drug abuse in the time leading up to their arrest. More than 36 percent of all convicted adult offenders under the jurisdiction of probation authorities, prisons, jails, or parole agencies in 1996 had been drinking at the time of their offense. Of special concern for the future is the continuing and regular use of drugs by a minority of "hard core" users who are criminally involved. For the many offenders likely to be returning to their communities in the coming years, breaking the cycle between substance abuse and crime is critical to increasing their chances of successful reintegration.

Immigration. The increasing ease of worldwide transportation and communications, as well as the globalization of the economy, are adding to immigration pressures. Whether to work, study, seek refuge from persecution, or simply visit, we can expect more and more people will enter this country lawfully. Providing high quality customer service to these many lawful immigrants will be a significant challenge. At the same time, we can expect that many persons will attempt to enter the United States illegally. Controlling our borders, thwarting organized alien smuggling rings, and identifying and deporting those here illegally, especially those who commit crimes, will continue to be top priorities.

Civil Rights/Hate Crimes. The increasing racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity of our society emphasizes that the civil rights of all Americans must be protected. This includes combating those crimes that are motivated by hatred against a particular group; promoting mutual tolerance; and ensuring that the institutions of justice are themselves fair, impartial, and free of bias.

The American people rightfully look to the Federal Government, and specifically the Department of Justice, to provide leadership in meeting these and other challenges. The strategic goals, objectives, and strategies described in Chapter II of this plan provide our roadmap for doing so.

^*This chapter is based in part on an unpublished paper prepared by Abt Associates for the National Institute of Justice.

 

GOAL 1:   PROTECT AMERICA AGAINST THE THREAT OF TERRORISM

---

The orchestrated attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and aborted attacks on other U.S. targets, have brought terrorism dramatically to American soil. With the attacks, terrorism for most citizens shifted from being a distant, occasional threat to a realization of imminent danger to ourselves, our families, and our institutions. The enormous loss of life and property argues forcefully that the homeland must be protected from future terrorist assaults. The Department of Justice will pursue aggressively its challenge to protect Americans from insidious terrorist attacks like those of September 11, 2001.

Dramatic changes in the international and domestic environments have increased the threat of terrorism to levels not realized only a few years earlier. These threats, which include efforts of international as well as domestic terrorists, present the Department with the challenge of protecting America from a growing number of persons willing and able to carry out devastating terrorist attacks.

Domestically and internationally, there are indications that those who would seek to harm America and its citizens are attempting to acquire or develop chemical, biological, or radiological materials for illicit use. Terrorists and other criminals seek to capitalize on the fear generated by the perceived threat of an attack using weapons of mass destruction. As the public's awareness of these weapons has increased, so has the number of threats, including a dramatic increase in threats to use anthrax and other biological and chemical agents.

The rapid technological advancements of the information age have rendered crime-fighting efforts increasingly complex and opened new avenues for global criminal activities. Nearly all critical infrastructures now rely on computers, advanced telecommunications, and, to a great extent, the Internet, for system control and management, interaction with other infrastructures, and communications with suppliers and customers. The increasing interconnectedness of our critical infrastructures through cyberspace and information systems has created new vulnerabilities, as criminals, terrorists, and foreign intelligence services learn to exploit the power of cyber-tools and weapons. Our vulnerability is exacerbated by several factors. Most of our infrastructures rely on commercially available, off-the-shelf technology which means that a vulnerability in hardware or software is not limited to one organization, but is likely to be widespread. Also, infrastructures are increasingly interdependent and interconnected, making it difficult to predict the cascading effects that the disruption of one infrastructure would have on others.

The Department of Justice's approach to protecting the U.S. from terrorism is three-pronged, focusing on the prevention of terrorist acts, the investigation of threats and incidents, and the prosecution of those accused of committing crimes by terrorist means. Prevention is our highest priority, because success in preventing terrorism saves lives and property, and reduces the need to investigate incidents and prosecute individuals. We cannot wait for terrorists to strike to begin investigations and make arrests. The death tolls are too high, the consequences too great.

Strategic Objective 1.1 PREVENTION - - Prevent, disrupt, and defeat terrorist operations before they occur.

In responding to terrorist threats, the Department seeks to develop a comprehensive understanding of the intentions of terrorist organizations in order to thwart terrorist attacks. This requires effective mechanisms to receive information on a timely basis and to develop program-specific intelligence products that will provide improved evaluation, exploitation, and dissemination of information. A closely coordinated effort among FBI Headquarters, FBI field offices, the Office of Homeland Security, the U.S. Intelligence Community, state and local partners, and the Department's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information related to specific threats is essential. Once threats are identified, all appropriate investigative actions must be taken, with the goal being the successful prevention of terrorist acts and prosecution of those involved. Every effort will be made to locate those responsible for terrorist acts wherever they are and prevent them from inflicting further harm.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Establish Anti-Terrorism Task Forces within each judicial district to coordinate anti-terrorist activities.

At the direction of the Attorney General, each U.S. Attorney's Office identified an experienced prosecutor to serve as the Anti-Terrorism Coordinator for that specific district. Representatives from federal law enforcement agencies, including FBI, INS, DEA, Marshals Service, Customs Service, Secret Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, as well as from primary state and local police forces in that district, will constitute the district's Anti-Terrorism Task Force. The task forces will be part of a national network that will coordinate the dissemination of information and the development of investigative and prosecutive strategy throughout the country. Among their responsibilities, the task forces will serve as coordinating bodies for implementing the operational plan for the prevention of terrorism and as standing organizational structures for coordinated responses to terrorist incidents in their respective districts.

Build and maintain the FBI's fullest capacity to detect, deter, counter, and prevent terrorist activity.

In establishing an objective of deterrence as part of its Counterterrorism Program, the FBI will focus on building and maintaining its utmost capacity to detect, deter, counter, and prevent terrorist activity. By identifying the critical elements of full capacity, the Bureau will be able to assess its current capacity, significant performance gaps, specific risks, and unacceptable vulnerabilities across the United States. Based on this information, the FBI will develop strategies for building its capacity and minimizing the risk of terrorist activity. The elements where capacity will be assessed include investigations, intelligence, communications, liaison, and program management. The last of these includes the mechanism through which senior national program managers articulate and are accountable for programmatic goals, objectives, and anticipated milestones to penetrate and neutralize terrorist threats and enhance the program's ability to detect, deter, prevent, and swiftly respond to acts of terrorism which threaten U.S. interests at home or abroad.

Develop an intelligence capability that fully supports the Department's counterterrorism efforts.

The DOJ will develop a comprehensive intelligence program that can identify emerging threats and patterns, find relationships among individuals and groups, and provide useful information to investigators in a timely manner. This intelligence and analysis effort will range from tactical to strategic to program intelligence in order to fully support the investigative aspect of the counterterrorism effort throughout all aspects of operation. Finally, the Department will ensure that the information collected and analyzed is disseminated appropriately to ensure that all relevant partners are fully informed and engaged in the counterterrorism effort.

Mitigate threats, especially cyber-threats, to the U.S. national infrastructure.

A key area of focus is preventing and deterring terrorists from infiltrating our complex network of U.S. infrastructures. We must initially identify and strengthen all necessary assets and capabilities (equipment, personnel, training, points of contact, intelligence base) to support and initiate complex operations designed to disrupt or defeat threats to the critical infrastructures. The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) will strengthen its intelligence base by developing information resources and working relationships with infrastructure owners and operators and providing a mechanism for information sharing between the public and private sectors. NIPC will develop all necessary assets and capabilities to support operations aimed at disrupting and defeating threats to critical infrastructures. The National Infrastructure Protection and Computer Intrusion Program is working with the National Foreign Intelligence Program on state-sponsored infrastructure threats and with the Criminal Investigative Division on criminal threats to the infrastructure.

Increased dependence on the Internet, computer networks, and computers for e-commerce and critical U.S. infrastructures has raised the stakes and created a significant threat to the economic well-being and national security of the United States from computer intrusions. These infrastructures include banking and financial institutions, the telecommunications industry, oil and gas storage and delivery, transportation, water storage and delivery, electric power, emergency services, and government operations. Hacking tools are easily available, and even unsophisticated users can cause significant harm. In addition, even though computer hacking is a transnational problem, many countries lack criminal statutes, skilled investigators, or the will to investigate computer intrusion matters.

Fully coordinate with federal, state, and local government agencies in a comprehensive effort to develop and maintain adequate domestic preparedness.

Because of the catastrophic consequences posed by a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction, we must increase the preparedness of the Nation by strengthening capabilities at the local, state, and federal levels to respond effectively to terrorist events. At present, there are several international terrorist organizations that have expressed an interest in constructing weapons of mass destruction and appear to have the requisite money, resources, and access to do so. The Department will work with communities throughout the country to ensure that they have the resources and training to respond to incidents of terrorism and to assist U.S. citizens who are the victims of such violence. A comprehensive training program is integral to an effective terrorism response.

In addition to partnerships with federal counterparts, the Department will continue to foster the promulgation and dissemination of cooperative domestic preparedness initiatives in support of state and local emergency responders. Consistent with the leadership and guidance of the Criminal Division, the U.S. Attorneys have been charged with the responsibility of developing district crisis response plans. The plans will provide a crosswalk to FBI crisis response plans as well as similarly focused state, local, and regional emergency response plans.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Office of Homeland Security.   DOJ will work closely with the newly-established Office of Homeland Security as it exercises its responsibility to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks.

FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) System.   In the past, the FBI JTTF System has been the principal component for anti-terrorism coordination efforts within the DOJ. With the establishment of the Anti-Terrorism Task Forces coordinated out of U.S. Attorney Offices, described in the first strategy of Objective 1.1, representatives of the JTTFs will participate as members of the newly-established organizations and continue to exercise primary operational authority over most investigative activities.

Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG)   The CIRG was created in 1994 to facilitate the FBI's rapid response to, and management of, crisis incidents and to integrate tactical and investigative resource expertise to address terrorist incidents, hostage taking, barricaded subjects, child abductions, serial murders, and other high risk violent crimes requiring an immediate law enforcement response. CIRG's many components interact with most federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies on a daily basis, including the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Treasury, and all state and local law enforcement agencies.

InfraGard.   The FBI, in conjunction with the private sector, has developed an initiative called "InfraGard" to expand direct contacts with private and public sector infrastructure stakeholders to share information about cyber-intrusions, exploited vulnerabilities, and physical infrastructure threats.

Strategic Objective 1.2 INVESTIGATION - - Develop and implement the full range of resources available to investigate terrorist incidents, bringing their perpetrators to justice.

Although the Department emphasizes preventing acts of terrorism against Americans and their institutions, many of the same investigative tools and organizational structures developed for prevention can be used to investigate crimes of terrorism once they have been committed. Just as coordinating task forces, intelligence-gathering, and information-sharing are key elements of a prevention program, so too are these the essential elements of an effective investigation of crimes that have been committed.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Deploy the Anti-Terrorism Task Forces created within each judicial district to coordinate investigations of terrorist incidents.

These task forces, described earlier under Strategic Objective 1.1, will coordinate post-incident investigative activities by facilitating the dissemination of information and the development of investigative strategy throughout the country. As conduits of information between federal and local authorities, the task forces will provide intelligence regarding suspected terrorists to local authorities who can then aid in their identification and apprehension.

Promote and, when available, use new legislation and authorities to conduct investigations of terrorist incidents.

Because modern terrorism defies conventional crime fighting laws and authorities, the Department will endorse changes that will strengthen the likelihood of criminal terrorists being identified and brought to justice, while at the same time protecting civil liberties. Among these laws are those related to surveillance and wiretapping, ensuring law enforcement's ability to trace the communications of terrorists over cell phones, computer networks, and new technologies that may be developed in the coming years. Under the President's leadership, Congress has amended the laws and authorized new technology-neutral tools to combat and defeat terrorism and to detect and disrupt terrorist plans. The Department will implement these tools and constantly evaluate their efficacy and continued need in the fight against terrorism.

Apply all resources available to develop a comprehensive approach to investigating acts of terrorism.

The Department will expend the full range of its investigative resources to identify and apprehend criminals responsible for terrorist acts. To this end, DOJ will enhance its internal capabilities, such as by hiring investigators and support staff who are fluent speakers in languages used by terrorist organizations. The Department will also seek to complement its internal capacity by developing treaties with foreign powers and agreements with other agencies to share intelligence and collaborate on criminal investigations.

Strategic Objective 1.3 PROSECUTION - - Vigorously prosecute those who have committed, or intend to commit, terrorist acts against the United States.

The third prong of the Department of Justice's approach to protecting its citizens from terrorism is the effective prosecution of those who have been charged with criminal violations related to terrorism. A successful prosecution strategy carries a dual benefit. Not only does it bring criminals to justice and take them off the streets, it also can deter future acts of terrorism by disrupting their organizations by incarcerating their members, or by discouraging potential criminals by dimming their prospects of success.

As with Strategic Objective 1.2, many of the investigative tools and methods developed for preventing terrorism can be applied to build a strong case for prosecuting terrorist crimes. Coordinating task forces, collaborative intelligence-gathering, and cooperative information-sharing have been described above as key elements of prevention and investigation strategies. They are also essential elements of an effective prosecution program.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Build strong cases for prosecution through the use of district Anti-Terrorism Task Forces and the evidence they develop.

Because the task forces are coordinated by experienced prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Offices in each district, the Government will be able to build stronger cases, coordinating efforts throughout investigations, so that evidence is solid, properly obtained and developed, and appropriately preserved. With clarified prosecution strategies, federal and local law enforcement authorities will be better guided toward the strongest, most relevant evidence available for a sound prosecution.

Promote and, when available, use new legislation and authorities to prosecute suspected terrorist criminals to the fullest extent of the law.

To now, our laws have made it easier to prosecute members of conventional organized crime than to crack down on terrorists who, as events have shown, can kill thousands of innocent people in an instant. The same is true for drug traffickers and individuals involved in espionage–our laws have treated these criminals and those who aid and abet them more seriously than terrorists. Under the President's leadership, Congress has amended the laws to place terrorism on a par with organized crime and drug trafficking. The Department will continue to assess the need for greater legal restrictions on terrorist activities while protecting civil liberties of law-abiding citizens.

MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Effectively Managing Counterterrorism -- In recent years, the threat of terrorist attacks against the United States has increased. The President's budget request for FY 2001 included $11 billion for anti-terrorism programs and activities government-wide, but there may remain potential gaps or duplication of service between state and local governments. Additionally, clear linkages need to be established between DOJ threat analysis and the development of a national anti-terrorism strategy. A recent audit by the Inspector General found that funds disseminated to state, local and non-Department of Justice federal agencies were particularly at risk due to lack of oversight. The Department will meet the management challenge by ensuring accountability in all its programs, especially its counterterrorism efforts.

 

 

GOAL 2:   ENFORCING FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAWS

---

Keeping America safe by deterring, investigating, and prosecuting violations of federal criminal laws is at the heart of our Strategic Plan. It is a key mission element. The Department focuses on combating those crimes whose violence and economic impact most threaten the fabric and security of American society and for which the Department has particular jurisdiction and unique competencies. Goal Two outlines the Department's strategic objectives in reducing violent crime, particularly violent crime arising from the illegal use of guns, organized criminal enterprises and drug trafficking organizations; combating espionage against the United States; combating white collar crime, particularly economic crime and cybercrime; and combating crimes against children and other vulnerable victims. The Justice components that share responsibility for this strategic goal include the U.S. Attorneys, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Criminal, Antitrust, Environment, and Tax Divisions.

Strategic Objective 2.1 VIOLENT CRIME - - Reduce the threat, incidence, and prevalence of violent crime, especially as it stems from illegal use of guns or from organized criminal enterprises.

Increasing the quality and number of gun prosecutions, both federally and at the state level, is an established priority of the Department. Components throughout the Department are committed to improving our law enforcement response to gun violence and to assist communities in addressing evolving violent crime problems. Enhanced enforcement of gun laws across the nation is a means to achieving a reduction in gun violence. Moreover, it sends a clear message to anyone who illegally uses or possesses a gun that there is a unified effort at all levels of government to bring armed violent offenders to justice.

Organized criminal enterprises consist of both traditional and non-traditional crime groups. While the traditional groups operate with an hierarchical organization, the non-traditional groups have a looser but evolving structure.

Traditional criminal enterprises of the various La Cosa Nostra (LCN) families focus on making money through illegal activities, including various racketeering crimes, such as narcotics trafficking, fraud, money laundering, extortion, gambling, arson, counterfeiting, and prostitution. LCN maintains and enforces its power through murder and intimidation. The threat posed by the LCN to American society is two-fold. First is the sheer amount of criminal activity it generates, ranging from drug trafficking to theft, loan-sharking, white collar schemes, and labor and management racketeering. According to law enforcement estimates, annual losses attributable to the LCN are estimated to be more than $100 billion, much of which is passed on to consumers as higher prices for goods and services. Second is the LCN's ability to corrupt public, labor union, and business officials. It is this ability that is one of the defining factors separating "organized crime" from violent street gangs and other criminal activity. Corruption provides protection for the organization, shields its leadership from prosecutions, and creates a circle of self-perpetuating criminal activity.

Non-traditional organized crime groups from Russia, Eastern Europe, Asia, Central and South America, Africa, and many other parts of the world have begun to operate effectively and very dangerously in the United States. These groups have flourished in the drug underworld and have employed violent means to establish themselves. They are not as firmly established as the LCN, although some of them have emulated the LCN in the way they have structured their operations.

Members of domestic and ethnic street gangs frequently engage in drug trafficking activities and often use firearms in the commission of their crimes. These violent gangs are taking over parts of cities, flooding streets with drugs, and terrorizing and killing innocent people. An emerging problem is gangs comprised of older, more experienced and hardened criminals that have formed networks with counterparts across the nation. These gangs are more violent than their predecessors and their criminal activities are far more sophisticated.

Violent street gangs often engage in gun trafficking in order to raise money as well as fortify gang members. In order to obtain firearms, gang members engage in robberies, home invasions, and other acts of violence. Gang members acquire false identification in order to purchase firearms. Additionally, gang members recruit associates without criminal records to travel interstate for the purpose of purchasing firearms, using the proceeds from drug trafficking, robberies, and other criminal activity.

In a recent survey on gang activities conducted by the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), 85 percent of the law enforcement agencies responding reported that gangs were active within their jurisdiction. These reporting agencies identified more than 13,700 gangs and 750,000 gang members. According to the National Alliance of Gang Investigators Association National Threat Assessment published in February 2000, there were more than 30,000 gangs and 800,000 gang members. While gang membership is difficult to estimate, experts agree that the numbers are much higher than they were a decade ago. Among the disturbing trends noted in the survey is the increase in the possession of guns by gang members. Despite the fact that the incidence of gun violence has declined and federal prosecutions for firearms offenses have increased, violence stemming from the illegal use of guns remains a serious concern. Although the Brady Act has been effective in denying the sale of guns to more than 500,000 felons, fugitives, and other persons prohibited from possessing firearms, all too often guns are in the wrong hands. Every day in the United States, 93 people die of gunshot wounds either accidentally or intentionally inflicted.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Reduce violence stemming from the illegal use of guns in each of the 94 federal judicial districts.

In May 2001, the President and Attorney General announced Project Safe Neighborhoods, a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in America by networking existing local programs that target gun crime and providing those programs with additional tools necessary to be successful. The effectiveness of Project Safe Neighborhoods is based on the ability of federal, state, and local agencies to cooperate in a unified offensive that is guided by the United States Attorney in every one of the 94 federal judicial districts across America. Through intensive collaboration with federal, state, and local law enforcement, each United States Attorney will implement the five core elements, described below, of Project Safe Neighborhoods. The elements will be contoured to fit the specific gun crime problems in a given district. To complement the efforts of local gun crimes units, the Department of Justice will create a Firearms Enforcement Assistance Team composed of prosecutors, agents, and analysts experienced in each of the five core elements of this initiative. This team will stand ready to assist in the field as needed to consult, advise, and prosecute in districts with problems. The goal is to create safer neighborhoods by reducing gun violence and sustaining the reduction.

1. Partnerships. This initiative will require every United States Attorney to coordinate all gun-related programs at the federal, state and local law level within the district. Each United States Attorney will establish a task force consisting of federal and local officials to review and prepare gun cases for prosecution in the most appropriate forum. Good examples of strong, coordinated partnerships include Project Exile, originated in Richmond, Virginia, and Operation Ceasefire, created in Boston, Massachusetts. The success of these models is based largely upon the strength of the partnerships established between federal and local law enforcement and prosecutors.

2. Strategic Plan. Of vital importance to the success of any law enforcement partnership is the development of strategic plans to attack gun violence. The strategic plans, like the specific gun violence problems, will vary from one community to another. In one area, an aggressive plan to target violent gangs may be appropriate, while in another area, a plan to target illegal gun possessors may be more effective. Although the means may differ, the goal is the same: to reduce gun violence.

3. Training. Training is essential for officials to keep current on laws and trends that affect law enforcement. In order to maintain an edge in the attack on gun violence, this initiative mandates more expansive and comprehensive training for federal, state, and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors. As part of this initiative, the Justice Department will partner with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the National District Attorneys Association, and local law enforcement to conduct innovative regional cross-training of prosecutors and agents involved in gun crime enforcement. This training will address firearms identification, safety, federal and state firearms violations and statutes, federal and state search and seizure laws, crime scene and evidence management, and firearms trafficking and tracing.

4. Outreach. Community outreach and public awareness constitute essential components of any successful gun violence reduction plan. By conveying the priorities, message and results of this enhanced enforcement effort to the media and community members, the United States Attorney can help shape the attitudes of law abiding citizens and those who would otherwise believe they can violate gun laws with impunity.

A strategic network will be established with new or existing coalitions within each community with the goal of encouraging "ownership" of this initiative. As demonstrated by Project Exile and Operation Cease-fire, public outreach increases awareness, develops surrogates, and enhances the deterrent effect of the strategy within the community. Items as simple as bumper stickers, pump logos, and other promotional materials will promote visibility of this initiative within the community.

5. Accountability. A critical component of a comprehensive gun violence reduction plan is understanding the impact of efforts. Traditionally, enforcement efforts have been measured by counting the number of arrests, prosecutions, and convictions ("outputs") rather than the impact these law enforcement efforts have on reducing crime ("outcomes"). This initiative includes resources to assist the United States Attorneys in measuring the long term impact of the programs they implement. Regular reporting to the Department of Justice will be required to assess outcomes, to gauge the success of the measures implemented, and to analyze trends. This will help to assess our progress and to instill accountability into our enforcement efforts.

The Department is committing substantial resources to the Project Safe Neighborhoods: $558.8 million will be committed to the effort over the next two years, including the $233.6 million already available this year. The funding is being used to hire new federal and state prosecutors, support investigators, provide training, and develop and promote community outreach efforts.

With respect to organized gun trafficking by violent street gang enterprises, the FBI, through its Safe Streets Task Forces (SSTF) targets the organized acquisition, transportation, and distribution of firearms by violent street gang enterprises. This is designed to supplement the arsenal of investigative tools used by SSTF investigators to target criminal enterprises and is clearly distinguished from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms lead initiatives designed to target individual offenders who possess firearms in violation of federal law.

Target specific organized criminal enterprises to eliminate their power and influence in America.

The Department will continue to identify, penetrate, and dismantle major criminal enterprises so that real progress is made toward reducing the influence of all organized criminal enterprises. For well-entrenched international organized crime, our strategy is to identify the most significant organizations operating in the United States; identify their structure, hierarchy, and operations; and initiate joint investigations designed to curtail their emergence. Addressing the threat posed by the Eurasian Criminal Enterprises (ECEs) requires a dual strategy. First, it involves neutralizing the ECES that have the potential to engage in complex criminal conspiracies that can inflict substantial harm to American economic interests; second, it involves assisting vulnerable foreign governments to build their own investigative capacity to reduce the number of places within which ECES can freely operate or to prevent these criminal organizations from establishing a foothold in the first place. Regarding Asian Criminal Enterprises, our strategy is to concentrate on identifying the most significant groups, their leadership, and their scope and territory of criminal activity.

Target, investigate, and prosecute the most violent street gangs in our cities and communities.

The FBI will continue to focus its National Gang Strategy (NGS) on major violent domestic street gangs/drug enterprises that pose significant threats to the integrity of American society. Historically, NGS groups have displayed the ability to be well-organized, innovative, and extremely violent in protecting and securing the organizations' criminal goals. Coupled with the ability to quickly expand nationally, NGS groups are formidable opponents of law enforcement. These organizations have a strong foothold in many rural and urban cities across the country, and therefore need to be targeted and/or monitored proactively through joint federal, state, and local investigative initiatives to neutralize future growth.

The Bureau's resources are concentrated to thwart this expansion of gang activity and related violent criminal activity. The strategy is composed of a proactive effort that seeks to identify and neutralize emerging national gang trends. In responding to the national priorities, the FBI will identify, prioritize, and target violent street gangs whose activity pose a significant multijurisdictional threat. In areas where no NGS gang is present, the FBI strategy will be to prioritize and target for investigation those violent street gangs deemed to be the most significant and criminally active in that region. Where there is a presence of an NGS gang but it is determined not to be the most significant or criminally active in the area, the FBI strategy will be to monitor the activity of the NGS gang through its intelligence and appropriate multidivisional coordination and liaison efforts while prioritizing and targeting for investigation those violent street gangs deemed to be the most significant and criminally active in the field office territory.

Accordingly, certain criminal enterprises pose a significant threat to American society because of their multidivisional or multijurisdictional nature, their propensity for violence, and their rapid proliferation. The Enterprise Theory of Investigation is the focus of the NGS, and should address large multijurisdictional street gangs that can be most effectively eliminated through the use of this strategy. These enterprises, nearly all of which have numerous factions, include the Bloods, Crips, Folk Nation, People Nation, Mara Salvatrucha, 18th Street Gang, La Raza, Border Brothers, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, and Prison Gangs.

Provide operational enforcement assistance and training to tribal governments.

The Department will continue to provide both training and direct investigative and prosecutorial assistance to tribal governments. Accordingly, the U. S. Attorneys have designated Assistant U.S. Attorneys as tribal liaisons to work cooperatively with tribal police, prosecutors, and judges. The FBI, which has primary jurisdiction over major crimes committed by or upon Indians within Indian Country, uses its Tribal Assistance Program appropriations to fund training, operational expenses, and equipment purchases for Indian Country law enforcement efforts. The training provided includes homicide investigations, crime scene management, first responder, interviewing/interrogating, drug investigations, child sexual abuse, street survival skills, archeological crimes, crisis management, command college, stress management, and gaming violations.

Through its Office of Indian Country Investigations, the FBI assists tribes in the investigation of violent crimes committed in Indian Country. In addition, the Bureau provides a large share of the forensic exams for FBI Indian Country investigations either directly through its own laboratories or by funding non-FBI labs. The Indian Country Evidence Task Force, created on June 1, 2000, is dedicated solely to Native American crimes.

Promote increased cooperation with foreign law enforcement authorities.

The Department will continue to improve international cooperation against violent and organized crime through enhanced liaison and international training and technical assistance activities. It will also strongly support and expand efforts to use Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties as means to acquire evidence and other assistance from foreign countries. Through the U.S. National Central Bureau/International Criminal Police Organization, it will communicate and exchange information between domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies to ensure that the common interests of the United States are accurately represented to the international law enforcement community.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Asset Forfeiture Program. The Department's Asset Forfeiture Program (AFP) is a nationwide law enforcement program that continues to be an effective and powerful weapon in the Department's fight against crime. The primary mission of the AFP is to maximize the effectiveness of forfeiture as a deterrent to crime. Illegal organizations - - large and small - - are enhanced by the profits and proceeds obtained through such illicit activity. The AFP is committed to destroying criminal organizations by means of depriving drug traffickers, racketeers, and other criminal syndicates of their ill-gotten proceeds and the instrumentalities of their trade. The AFP includes training to educate federal, state, and local forfeiture prosecutors and investigators in ways to enhance the expertise needed to integrate forfeiture into every investigation and prosecution appropriately. The Department encourages federal, state, and local law enforcement cooperation by sharing the proceeds of a forfeiture with the state or local law enforcement agency that participates in an investigation which results in a forfeiture.

Strategic Objective 2.2 DRUGS - - Reduce the threat, trafficking, and related violence of illegal drugs by identifying, disrupting, and dismantling drug trafficking organizations.

The devastating impact of drug trafficking and the use of illegal drugs is amply illustrated by figures published by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in the 2000 "National Drug Control Strategy." That report estimated that there were approximately 52,000 deaths and $110 billion in economic losses which occurred in the United States in 1995 as a result of illegal drug use. That economic figure included costs from unnecessary health care, crime, and lost productivity resulting from substance abuse. Illicit drug use hurts families, businesses, and neighborhoods; impedes education; and chokes the criminal justice, health, and social service systems. Three and one-half million Americans are chronic drug users and over one-half million drug-related emergencies occur each year in the U.S.

Foreign-based and sophisticated drug trafficking organizations are responsible for supplying the U.S. with most of its illegal drugs, and trafficking of these drugs is a significant factor in the crime and violence that occurs in our communities. As a result of extensive and effective law enforcement operations in both the U.S. and Colombia, the operations of many of the notorious Colombian drug trafficking cartels which controlled the cocaine trade in the 1980s and early 1990s have been significantly disrupted. Unfortunately, the threats posed by those cartels have been replaced by smaller entrepreneurial drug trafficking organizations based in Colombia, Central America, and the Caribbean, and by Mexican drug trafficking organizations which transport cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and other synthetic drugs across the southwest border of the United States.

As a result of law enforcement activities in the Caribbean and South Florida, Colombian cartels have formed alliances with Mexican smuggling groups to transship large loads of cocaine across the Mexican/United States border. The smuggling groups have evolved into large scale, sophisticated drug trafficking organizations which control the drug trade across the 2,000 mile border. Today, approximately 66 percent of the cocaine entering the U.S. is smuggled across the southwest border. Mexican drug trafficking organizations also engage in substantial acts of violence and public corruption along both sides of the border to support their drug trafficking operations.

Law enforcement strategies to target the organizations that traffic in illicit drugs must address a variety of smuggling and production efforts:

- - Cocaine and heroin are produced entirely outside the United States and smuggled into this country, largely over our southern border. Approximately three-quarters of the world supply of cocaine is produced in Colombia. While the majority of worldwide heroin production is located in countries that are virtually immune to United States influence - - particularly Myanmar and Afghanistan - - the primary source of heroin sold in the United States is Colombia and Mexico.

- - Although methamphetamine is smuggled into the United States, much is also manufactured in thousands of clandestine laboratories, primarily located in California and the Midwest. Not long ago, clandestine laboratory operators treated their recipes for methamphetamine as valuable secrets; now, recipes for making methamphetamine are available on the Internet. In addition, Mexican trafficking groups are now manufacturing large amounts of methamphetamine in "super" labs located in California and Mexico.

- - Most marijuana available in the United States is produced in Mexico and South America then smuggled across the southwest border. However, marijuana continues to be cultivated in the United States, both indoors and outdoors. For example, in 2000, over 2.8 million plants were eradicated, of which nearly 2.6 million were outdoor plants. In addition, over the past two decades, while the average tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of commercial-grade marijuana increased from 2 to 5.2 percent, the increase in THC potency of marijuana cultivated indoors was staggering. Indoor cultivation, often comprised of sinsemilla plant, was much higher, rising from 3.2 percent in 1977 to an average of 13.2 percent in 2000. Also of note is the influx of Canadian marijuana (commonly referred to as "BC Bud") into the northwestern United States. According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the THC potency of BC Bud is between 12 and 15 percent.

The Department focuses its law enforcement efforts on disrupting and dismantling the drug trafficking organizations and their members that supply and distribute the wholesale quantities of illicit drugs, as well as the individual drug traffickers who sell drugs on the streets of America. Over many years, the Department has developed and will continue an integrated approach to attacking the international organizations that use sophisticated mechanisms to distribute drugs, as well as the local trafficking organizations that prey on communities.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Coordinate domestic and foreign strategic intelligence information from all sources, including the law enforcement agencies, intelligence community, and financial databases.

The Department has long recognized the need to target its limited drug enforcement resources in order to achieve any lasting success against the large, well-financed, and sophisticated criminal organizations that are responsible for bringing most illegal drugs into the United States and distributing them once they get here. Such strategic targeting and coordination of national-level drug investigations and prosecutions is accomplished by the Special Operations Division (SOD).

The SOD is a multiagency national law enforcement coordinating entity comprised of agents, analysts, and prosecutors from DEA, the FBI, the U.S. Customs Service (USCS), the NDIC, and the Department's Criminal Division. The mission of SOD is to coordinate and support regional, national, and transnational criminal investigations and prosecutions against the major drug trafficking organizations threatening the United States. While SOD continues to focus on the major transnational criminal drug trafficking organizations operating along either side of the U.S.-Mexico land border and in Colombia, it has expanded its role to coordinate and support transnational criminal investigations of the emerging major drug trafficking organizations operating in Europe and Asia.

To fulfill its mission, the SOD works closely with the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program, and USAOs across the country. The SOD routinely performs its mission seamlessly across both investigative agency and district jurisdictional boundaries. The NDIC routinely assists SOD by deploying Document and Computer Exploitation teams in support of the highest priority SOD missions.

The timely exchange of investigative information and intelligence is critical to the success of the SOD mission. SOD has achieved dramatic successes in coordinating and supporting law enforcement operations to dismantle and destroy national and international drug trafficking organizations. We expect continued expansion in the accomplishments from SOD with the recent inclusion of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigative Division and the establishment of a financial investigative section at SOD.

Target drug traffickers and their organizations through OCDETF or equally complex investigations, using asset forfeiture as well as other tools when appropriate, and investigate and prosecute the movement of drug proceeds into, within, and out of the United States.

The Department's counternarcotics strategy is built around the recognition that the best way to attack sophisticated narcotics trafficking and money laundering organizations and their attendant criminal activity (e.g., corruption, violent crime, organized crime, and tax evasion) is through the use of a coordinated, interagency task force. The Department implements this strategy in several ways. The Department's long-standing OCDETF program, with its nine federal law enforcement agencies, is one example. The OCDETF program uses its wide range of agency expertise, experience, and capabilities to disrupt and dismantle the highest level drug trafficking organizations. More recently, the Departments of Justice and Treasury created the Special Operations Division, described above, which coordinates about 20 major national and international investigations each year.

Both the Departments of Justice and the Treasury are committed to identifying and attacking money laundering through a coordinated national approach targeting specified sectors of the financial system. In 1999, the two agencies, along with federal regulators and the Postal Inspection Service, announced a joint National Money Laundering Strategy. Through this approach, a particular financial sector is targeted to reduce its money laundering potential. Coordinating the use of asset forfeiture in our efforts to combat drug trafficking is also critical. Through the appropriate use of asset forfeiture, the Department attacks the economic infrastructure of criminal organizations to take the profit out of drug trafficking and deprive the criminals of the illegally-gotten gains which are used to operate and expand their enterprises.

Develop and implement a district drug enforcement strategy under the guidance of each U.S. Attorney.

The harm caused to our cities and towns by local drug trafficking organizations must be addressed at the community level, and the Department, through the U.S. Attorney in each district, leads these efforts. By bringing together the federal, state, and local law enforcement representatives in their districts, the USAs can draw upon the talents and experiences of each of the participating agencies. Whereas state and local law enforcement are likely to have the necessary strategic information and experience on local gangs, federal agents can utilize state-of-the-art investigative technology, witness security programs, and sophisticated laboratory analysis of evidence.

Reduce the domestic production of illegal drugs and the illegal diversion of precursor and essential chemicals.

Precursor and/or essential chemicals are crucial for manufacturing most illicit drugs sold on the streets of the United States. For example, the processes used to refine raw coca into powder cocaine and to produce methamphetamine require a variety of chemicals. The Department has two initiatives that target chemical distributors who are involved in diverting precursor and essential chemicals to the illicit marketplace. Operation Backtrack targets "rogue" chemical distribution companies who sell precursor chemicals. Operation Velocity supports investigations of domestic methamphetamine distribution groups and clandestine laboratory operators. The Department, through DEA's Domestic Cannabis Eradication and Suppression Program, uses coordinated planning and operations to enhance the ability of federal, state, and local agencies to suppress cultivation of marijuana and increase crop destruction.

Finally, the Department participates in the ONDCP-funded National Methamphetamine Chemical Initiative, a multiagency working group consisting of representatives from the DEA, USAOs, NDIC, and state and local law enforcement officials. Representatives of this working group collaborate in the production and dissemination of timely information bulletins focusing on emerging trends related to the production and distribution of methamphetamine.

Support international cooperative efforts to investigate and prosecute major drug trafficking organizations and bilateral and multilateral initiatives to mobilize international efforts against illegal drug activities.

Unfortunately, the growth of the global economy has made it easier for drug traffickers to move across borders and ship their illegal goods. The Department seeks every opportunity to gain cooperation from other nations in its fight against major drug traffickers through a variety of agreements and treaties, as well as less formal contact. For example, the DEA operates country attache offices in 57 foreign countries. Another example is the Department's Bilateral Case Initiative, which began when the DOJ and Colombian law enforcement conducted unprecedented investigation and prosecution efforts against the most significant traffickers in Colombia, and which has now expanded to other countries in the region. Also noteworthy is the success of DEA's Operation Amethyst (Purple), an ongoing, coordinated international effort of 28 countries, the International Narcotics Control Board, International Criminal Police Organization/INTERPOL, and the World Customs Organization, which seeks to stem the diversion of the cocaine-essential chemical, potassium permanganate, to the Andean Region. Additionally, the NDIC has trained Her Majesty's Customs and Excise on the use of RAID (Real-time Analytical Intelligence Database) and document exploitation and, at the request of the Department of State, is providing the same training to law enforcement personnel in Mexico.

Key Crosscutting Programs

OCDETF. The DOJ is responsible for the administration of the OCDETF program, which includes organizations within the Department of Justice (DEA, Criminal Division, FBI, USMS, USAO, INS) other federal law enforcement organizations (ATF, IRS, USCS, and the U.S. Coast Guard), as well state and local law enforcement agencies. Its purpose is to coordinate investigations of drug trafficking organizations which are international, multijurisdictional, or which represent organized criminal enterprises. In addition, the OCDETF Executive Office and the National High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Director's Office work collaboratively to target these organizations.

Organized Crime Strike Force Units. The Department maintains Organized Crime Strike Force Units in 23 USAOs, staffed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are dedicated exclusively to prosecuting LCN/Italian, Eurasian, and Asian organized crime cases. These offices have liaison with representatives of various federal investigative agencies as well as some state and local law enforcement agencies. To ensure that the program is coordinated from a national point of view, the Strike Force Units operate under general operational supervision and oversight of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the Criminal Division.

HIDTAs. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 authorized the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, to designate as HIDTAs areas of the United States which exhibit serious drug trafficking problems and harmfully impact other areas of the country. The HIDTA program improves the efficiency and effectiveness of drug control efforts by facilitating cooperation among federal, state, and local law enforcement and demand reduction agencies. Since 1990, 31 areas within the United States have been designated as HIDTAs.

High Intensity Financial Crimes Areas (HIFCAs). The Departments of Justice and the Treasury have designated the first four HIFCAs, where high concentrations of money laundering and other related financial crimes exist, and will coordinate federal, state, and local law enforcement resources to identify and target money laundering within the designated areas.

Maritime Drug Smuggling Investigations Program. The Department of Justice and U.S. Coast Guard have worked together to set in place improved procedures that will enhance the prosecution of the maritime drug smuggling cases where United States forces participated in the apprehension of the perpetrators.

NDIC Threat Assessments and Intelligence-sharing. NDIC produces strategic intelligence products that provide policy makers with timely information relating to the supply and demand of illicit drugs in the United States. Examples of these products are the annual National Drug Threat Assessment, state and regional assessments, Information Bulletins, the annual Arrival Zone Threat Assessment, and the Maritime Drug Threat Assessment. NDIC fosters information- sharing among federal, state, and local law enforcement and intelligence agencies through its National Drug Intelligence Library, and by distributing the Counternarcotics Publication Quarterly. NDIC's technology programs–such as upgrading the RAID database to provide cross-case analysis and internationalization, as well as NDIC's Hashkeeper initiative to improve computer exploitation–will enhance law enforcement's ability to process, analyze, and share information. Furthermore, the NDIC cooperates with, supports, and co-produces joint assessments with the various HIDTAs and OCDETFs, the DEA, FBI, and the SOD; it also conducts a quarterly multi-agency training course for the benefit of federal, state, and local law enforcement and intelligence personnel.

The El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC). EPIC is a multiagency intelligence program designed specifically to act as a clearinghouse for tactical drug-related intelligence. The coordination services provided by EPIC are information-based and draw on the expertise of staff from multiple federal agencies.

Strategic Objective 2.3 ESPIONAGE - - Combat espionage against the United States by strengthening counterintelligence capabilities.

Foreign intelligence threats are planned, authorized, and financed by powers beyond our boundaries. Given the origin, nature, and constantly changing focus of these threats, they can never be completely eliminated. However, the success of foreign intelligence operations and the harm that they can cause to the United States can be mitigated with effective counterintelligence.

Over the past five years, the scope and nature of the foreign intelligence threat to the United States has expanded dramatically. In addition to traditional threats targeted toward obtaining sensitive information on traditional U.S. targets, (i.e., national defense, military operations and policy, U.S. intelligence, and science and technology information), numerous non-traditional threats have emerged, targeting similar information. Moreover, many of these intelligence threats have expanded their targets to include other sectors affecting U.S. security, most notably sensitive economic information and proprietary technology information. Concurrently, foreign threats now have elaborate and sophisticated networks consisting of governmental and nongovernmental entities engaged in long-term efforts to obtain information.

Moreover, rapid changes in technology have provided foreign intelligence threats with new, inexpensive, and efficient means to target, collect, and disseminate sensitive information. Intelligence operations against the United States are now far more fluid and complex than at any time in the past, making detection and prevention far more difficult.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Strengthen the Department's intelligence base and analytical capability to assess and respond to intelligence threats.

The DOJ must expand its knowledge of the intentions, methods, and capabilities of foreign intelligence threats. In addition, the Department must review the precise application of existing policies and guidelines to these threats, particularly with regard to foreign powers conducting activities in previously atypical target areas. The basis of the foreign counterintelligence program is the analysis of reliable human source information and timely information derived through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Gaining such information will require strengthening cross-program sharing of information and expertise; improving surveillance capabilities; and developing new technologies, including improved information management systems, to keep pace with the rapidly changing foreign intelligence threats. The Department also must improve its capacity to evaluate and anticipate threats posed by the intelligence activities of foreign powers. An increased emphasis on predictive analysis should produce operational intelligence products of broader scope and improved timeliness, as well as long-range, strategic studies addressing the intelligence collection plans, methods, intentions, capabilities, and personnel of foreign powers.

Key Crosscutting Programs

National Security List. The Department, in coordination with other elements of the intelligence community, engages in long-range analysis to identify and counter emerging threats. Foreign intelligence threats are investigated under the National Security List, which includes two categories of threats: country threats and issue threats. The categories were established to focus investigative efforts on activities which are detrimental to U.S. interests, and to provide sufficient resources to maximize efforts against those that are the most significant.

Strategic Objective 2.4 WHITE COLLAR CRIME - - Combat white collar and economic crime, especially cybercrime.

The Department recognizes that a strong deterrent capability is necessary to prevent criminals from defrauding and, therefore, weakening the Nation's industries and institutions, eroding the trust of the American public. White Collar Crime (WCC) encompasses illegal acts characterized by deceit, concealment, or violations of trust. These acts are generally not dependent on the application or threat of physical force or violence. They are committed by individuals and organizations in order to obtain money, property, and services, or to secure personal or business advantage.

WCC has been conservatively estimated to cost the U.S. billions of dollars annually. Precise financial losses resulting from WCC for consumers, government, and business are unknown since no systematic data collection exists. Only periodic case studies of some aspect of white collar crime, such as personal fraud or health care fraud, have been undertaken. For example, a 1995 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) study entitled "Victimization of Persons by Fraud," estimated an annual loss from personal fraud exceeding $40 billion. The NIJ study also found that 31 percent of survey respondents reported being a victim of personal fraud in 1995. A more recent National White Collar Crime Center study published in 2000 found that 36 percent of survey respondents said someone in their household had been a victim of fraud in the past 12 months. White collar crime accounted for approximately 13 percent of all cases filed by the Department of Justice in Fiscal Year 2000; financial institution fraud accounted for 36 percent in the same year.

The true cost of WCC is not always measurable in dollars. The corruption of public officials undermines trust in government, while ecological crimes, such as the illegal dumping of toxic wastes, can result in irreparable harm to the environment and endanger public safety. Some Internet fraud schemes, such as market manipulation of certain stocks, can cause massive losses for unwary investors. Other schemes - - such as fraudulent online sales of dangerous drugs or bogus medical devices - - can create a risk of serious physical harm or death. Unchecked, WCC can have a devastating impact on the nation's public welfare and economic well-being. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center is helping to identify and measure Internet crime.

It is often noted that just as the Internet and other global network computer systems have transformed the way we conduct business, run government, educate and communicate generally, such networks have also provided a powerful new medium in which to commit unlawful acts. The Internet provides con artists, extortionists, vandals, and other criminals with a formidable tool to commit traditional and new crimes. Because end users are spread across the world, a single scheme through the Internet can reach a vastly larger pool of potential victims than was possible a decade ago, at a far lower cost and unprecedented speed. The Internet also can provide a veil of anonymity that is difficult or impossible to achieve except in cyberspace.

Combating computer crime requires investigators, forensic experts, and prosecutors who must all have technical expertise. Unlike law enforcement agents fighting traditional crime, these individuals not only need to know generally how to investigate or prosecute a crime, but must also have specialized skills and training in computers and technology. They must be sufficiently conversant with technology to ensure that evidence is not lost or overlooked. Forensic experts need to know how to protect evidence and how to recover, analyze, and protect digital evidence that is often perishable and easily damaged. Prosecutors must know more than standard evidentiary and procedural rules; they must understand the specialized language and other complexities of high-technology crimes and be able to translate the evidence in a manner that is technically accurate, but also understandable to judges and juries.

In addition to corruption and cybercrime, WCC encompasses a wide assortment of other criminal economic schemes which vary in scope and complexity. Because the Department realizes the significance of WCC and its national impact, it devotes considerable resources to countering its many facets, as summarized in Table 1.

 

TABLE 1. Summary of White Collar Crime Categories and Issues

Category	Issues
Health Care Fraud	Fraudulent billing schemes in health care services rendered, as related to Medicare, Medicaid, government insurers and providers, private insurance companies, home health agencies, etc., Defrauding or misleading patients on quality of care issues. Needless prescriptions for durable medical care equipment in exchange for "kickbacks."
Financial Institutions, Telemarketing and Other Fraud	Internet fraud. Mortgage and commercial loan fraud. Check and negotiable instrument fraud. Bankruptcy fraud. Securities fraud and abuse in pension plans. Consumer (telemarketing) fraud, particular cross-border fraud. Fraudulent schemes against the elderly. Money laundering. Identity theft, e.g., illegal credit card use, etc.
Public Corruption	Corruption of government policies and programs. Loss of government funds due to fraud, kickbacks, bribery, etc. Campaign finance violations in federal elections.
Computer Crime and Theft of Intellectual Property	Computer thefts and intrusions. Economic espionage. Intellectual property crime,e.g., illegal copying, counterfeit goods or services). Internet/Online crime and other fraudulent schemes.
Antitrust Violations	Increasingly complex matters. Bid-rigging schemes. Price fixing cartels that are: Highly sophisticated; Increasingly international; Significant for the large volumes of commerce involved; and Extremely broad in terms of the number of businesses and consumers affected.
Environmental Crimes	Endangerment of the environment and public health, e.g., hazardous waste disposal, protection of habitats, water pollution, illegal trade in banned products, etc. Fraud in environmental remediation industry. Smuggling of endangered species and other protected species. Exploitation and abuse of marine resources through illegal commercial fishing. Environmental impact of other criminal activity, e.g., clandestine drug laboratories.
Tax Fraud	Evasion of taxes through understatement of legal sources of income. Utilizing domestic trusts and other abusive tax shelters to evade federal tax liabilities. Illegal tax protest. Secreting assets in foreign countries to evade federal tax liabilities.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Bolster the effectiveness of white collar crime investigations and prosecutions by strengthening coordination among domestic and international law enforcement agencies.

Key Department strategies for addressing WCC are developing partnerships with, and fostering coordination among, domestic and international law enforcement and regulatory agencies. The growth of electronic evidence and records, electronic commerce, and globalization magnify impediments that must be overcome in combating WCC and make such coordination indispensable. Because the Department's prosecutorial efforts are reliant upon excellent detection and investigation, Justice components have increased their participation on multiagency task forces and in collaborative initiatives to maximize opportunities to coordinate detection, investigation, and prosecution efforts. Additionally, the DOJ and FBI currently operate the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, which coordinates domestic and international Internet investigations.

Investigate and prosecute high-technology crimes.

The United States is facing an increasing threat from high-technology crime. Therefore, the Department must increase its efforts to investigate and prosecute such crime and to work with other government agencies to ensure a coordinated response. The Department will develop and support the development of tools, legal approaches, and operational strategies to assist law enforcement in investigating criminal activity that increasingly abuses the power of global networks and computers. The Department's Computer Crime and Telecommunications Coordinator (CTC) program, created to address high-technology crimes, has proven to be one of the most effective prosecutive networks in the country. Designated prosecutors in each of the U.S. Attorney's Offices are specially trained to handle computer crime and intellectual property cases. In FY 2000, there were 140 designated CTCs in the U.S. Attorney's Offices. In addition, the Department recently created Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) units in 10 U.S Attorney's Offices to supplement the CTC program.

With the increasing globalization of crime, DOJ will work with its international partners to develop the global infrastructure - - legal, technical, and operational - - necessary to combat criminal activity involving computers, networks, and intellectual property. The Department also continues to provide training and assistance to federal, state, and local law enforcement. Such assistance has included building virtual and personal networks among law enforcement personnel to facilitate cooperation in the investigation of complex cases. Recognizing that technologies affect public safety, the Department will work with the computer and telecommunications industry to ensure that industry understands the public safety implications of the technology it develops. At the same time, Justice will strive to ensure that law enforcement understands the new technologies that may present threats to public safety.

Increase the investigation and prosecution of public corruption as a means of deterring such behavior.

One way to reduce future corruption is to vigorously investigate and prosecute current corruption and to seek substantial prison terms for persons convicted of these crimes. Aggressive and effective prosecutions, followed by long sentences, send a clear message that these crimes will not be tolerated and that those engaging in them do so at their peril. The Department intends to increase its efforts against corruption in three ways: first, it will increase awareness of public corruption, of the significant harm it causes and the interest the Department has in combating it at all levels of government; second, the Department will make public corruption investigations and prosecutions a top priority; and third, the Department will increase the number and scope of training events for federal prosecutors and investigators that focus on the handling of corruption investigations and prosecutions.

Investigate, challenge, and prosecute international price fixing cartels.

The Department deters anticompetitive behavior affecting U.S. businesses and consumers by investigating and prosecuting violations of our Nation's antitrust laws. While we remain vigilant in the face of all criminal antitrust activity, we have placed a priority on the successful prosecution of international price fixing cartels. These cartels pose a number of challenges: they are highly sophisticated, increasingly international, significant for the large volumes of commerce involved, and extremely broad in terms of the number of businesses and consumers affected. The Department is committed to meeting these challenges. Successful enforcement of these laws - - which both decreases and deters anticompetitive behavior - - saves U.S. consumers millions of dollars, allows them to receive goods and services of the highest quality at the lowest price, and enables U.S. businesses to compete on a level playing field nationally and internationally.

Investigate and prosecute environmental crimes.

Prosecution remains an important cornerstone of the Department's integrated approach to ensure broad-based environmental compliance. Notably, it is the goal of investigators and prosecutors to discover and prosecute criminals before there has been substantial damage done to the environment, resulting in serious health effects or economic damage to consumers or honest competitors. Deterrence of violations due to criminal enforcement is difficult to measure, but available research indicates that a strong criminal enforcement program deters violations and thereby protects human health, natural resources, endangered species, and the competitive position of legitimate companies. The Department will enhance its capability to convict and deter environmental crimes through training, outreach, and domestic and international cooperation and coordination.

Identify, investigate and prosecute tax fraud.

Each year, noncompliance with the federal tax laws costs the government hundreds of billions of dollars. In addition to its continuing work prosecuting a wide variety of tax crimes, the Department has launched a series of new initiatives to deter noncompliance and help ease the burden of noncompliance on law-abiding taxpayers who pay their fair share of taxes. The Department has redoubled efforts to address tax crime involving income from a legal source -- such as the consultant who reports only part of his income, the restaurant owner who skims from the cash register, or the doctor who keeps two sets of bookkeeping records. The IRS estimates that at least $100 billion in revenue is lost each year through the evasion of taxes on income from legal sources.

The Department will also concentrate on several other areas of noncompliance. For example, it will focus on prosecuting promoters of sham trusts and other illegal schemes designed to avoid taxes; illegal tax protestors who engage in tax evasion schemes, claiming that the income tax is unconstitutional; those who take sham "vows of poverty;" those who harass IRS employees; and taxpayers who use tax haven and other offshore countries to evade United States taxes. The Department's tax attorneys will also work with the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force in prosecuting tax crimes where income is generated by narcotics trafficking.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Attorney General's Council on White Collar Crime. The Council, chaired by the Attorney General, was established by order of the Attorney General in July 1995, replacing its predecessor, the Economic Crime Council, established in 1983. The Council serves as a high-level interagency advisory body to coordinate federal law enforcement efforts and develop new strategies to combat white collar crime. The Council includes senior-level representatives of the Department of Justice; the Department of Treasury; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Securities and Exchange Commission; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the Federal Trade Commission; and the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency. The Council has working-level committees on fraud prevention and consumer protection and subcommittees on identity theft and international white collar crime. It also offers advanced white collar crime training by the Departments of Justice and Treasury. The Council has endorsed and added its support to various economic crime enforcement initiatives, including Internet fraud, counterfeit aircraft parts, counterfeit software, identity theft, pension fraud, and bankruptcy fraud.

National Health Care Fraud and Abuse Task Force. Consisting of senior officials of the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, as well as state attorneys general and local district attorneys, the task force discusses policy issues and develops directives to member agencies for implementing initiatives to fight common problems affecting federal and state health care programs.

President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency and Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE/ECIE). The President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency and Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE/ECIE) is composed of Inspectors General (IG) of various agencies of the Executive Branch. Established by a 1996 Executive Order, the Integrity Committee for the PCIE/ECIE handles criminal allegations against IGs and their senior staffs. Investigative procedures for the Integrity Committee were drafted in 1997 with the assistance of the Department. The procedures provide for coordination with the Department in this sensitive area, including initial DOJ review of allegations for possible criminal prosecution.

Strategic Objective 2.5 CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN AND THE EXPLOITABLE -- Combat crimes against children and other vulnerable victims of violence and exploitation.

The criminal victimization of children impacts not only the victims but also their families, community, and society at large. Children, because of their legal and social vulnerabilities, may be victimized in a variety of ways involving physical and sexual abuse. Many of the individuals who prey on children are not first-time offenders, but rather serial offenders who target children as a matter of preference and who may have traveled interstate during the commission of multiple criminal offenses. Because of these vulnerabilities and the potential for long-term harm caused by this victimization, society demands that children receive appropriate protection. A rapid and effective response to crimes against children (CAC) incidents could literally mean life or death for a victim. Primary areas of the FBI's investigation of CAC involve kidnaping and non-family child abductions; domestic and international parental kidnaping; sexual exploitation of children; and sexual or physical abuse of a minor on a Government reservation.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Strengthen our nationwide capability to respond quickly and effectively to crimes against children.

The Department will continue to provide leadership and technical program support to ensure that our nationwide ability to respond quickly and effectively to crimes against children is strengthened. The Department has initiated several major programs to combat crimes against children, undertaking efforts in close cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. For example, the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system now allows state and local law enforcement agencies to "flag" entries to its computerized system when a child is missing under suspicious circumstances or may be in danger. NCIC promptly relays this information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a non-federal agency that has done landmark work to help endangered children. The Department also continues to support, coordinate, and manage the National Sex Offender Registry. Additionally, the Department's Criminal Division serves as the legal advisor to the Internet Crime against Children Task Forces being funded by a grant program from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Combat the criminal trafficking of children and other vulnerable victims.

To combat the criminal trafficking of children and other vulnerable victims, more intensified efforts, together with enhanced interagency coordination, are needed. Strategic targeting of outreach and training will lead to an increase in prosecutions in cases involving human trafficking and will enhance policies that impact on victims.

Deploy task forces against trafficking in persons and worker exploitation.

The Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, which prosecutes cases of involuntary servitude and related offenses, has increased its efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases, to coordinate assistance to victims, and to engage in intensified outreach to community groups and the broader public in order to identify potential trafficking cases. The Division is also increasing its work with foreign governments to combat trafficking, both by training foreign prosecutors and law enforcement officers in handling trafficking cases and in building its contacts with foreign officials with whom the Division can collaborate on specific cases.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division works closely with the FBI, INS, the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorneys' Offices, Department of Labor, and communities to identify victims, many of whom are women and children, of illegal trafficking and to investigate and prosecute incidents involving criminal violations of these federal civil rights crimes. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, enacted into law in 2000, expanded the scope of the federal enforcement authority over trafficking offenses. We are continuing our outreach programs in this area, coordinating trafficking enforcement efforts by training local and federal prosecutors in the techniques of prosecuting trafficking cases and providing expert guidance on the newly-enacted Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

 

 

Goal 3:  PREVENT AND REDUCE CRIME AND VIOLENCE BY ASSISTING STATE, TRIBAL, LOCAL, AND              COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAMS

---

Although the role of the Federal Government in crime-fighting has grown significantly in recent years, most of the responsibility for crime control still rests at the state and local levels of government. State and locals do most of the criminal justice work in this country and spend most of its criminal justice resources. Tribal law enforcement agencies and courts play a large role in crime control (even though the FBI has primary jurisdiction over major crimes involving Indians in Indian Country), and a host of other publicly and privately funded non-federal organizations are also major forces in combating crime.

A key role of the Department of Justice in this environment is to provide leadership and support for these efforts in order to further develop the Nation's capacity to prevent and control crime and administer justice fairly and effectively. The Department works toward this goal principally through an extensive, varied portfolio of criminal and juvenile justice grant-in-aid programs, training, and technical assistance. It also builds knowledge and understanding about crime and justice by conducting research, collecting statistics, and testing and evaluating new programs and technologies.

In addition, the Department helps state and local officials and civic leaders resolve conflicts and prevent violence in communities experiencing tensions due to race, color, or national origin. The Department works toward promoting the resolution of racial tension by assisting communities in building their own capacities to develop local solutions to local problems through mediation, conciliation, and other conflict resolution services.

Most of these efforts are carried out by three components: the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and the Community Relations Service (CRS). In addition, other Justice components (including the U.S. Attorneys, the FBI, DEA, and NDIC) provide training, share information, and offer specialized support services.

Strategic Objective 3.1 LAW ENFORCEMENT - - Improve the crime fighting and criminal justice administration capabilities of state, tribal, and local governments.

As noted above, the Department believes that the best way for the Federal Government to have an impact on local crime is by building partnerships with. state, local, and tribal governments, and by providing resources and leadership to them.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Provide funding to support state and local criminal justice system initiatives.

The Department administers a number of grant programs to support state and local law enforcement. These include block and formula grants that preserve state and local discretion in allocating monies for a wide range of criminal justice initiatives.

Focus resources to reduce crime and improve criminal justice services and operations in Indian Country.

American Indians are the victims of violent crime at more than twice the rate of all U.S. residents. Moreover, Indian Country has been plagued by substandard law enforcement services. To correct this situation, the Department is focusing resources on Indian Country. Some of this effort involves direct federal action, but a major part involves grants, training, and technical assistance to support and strengthen tribal law enforcement and criminal justice systems. The FBI has established goals and objectives over the next five years to standardize training; improve coordination among the FBI, tribal, and Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement entities; improve the Safe Trails Task Force; address Indian Country quality of life issues; and ensure that personnel resources are distributed effectively within Indian Country.

Improve the capacity of the Nation's "first responder" community to respond to terrorist incidents, including those involving weapons of mass destruction, by providing consultation, training, equipment, and other assistance.

While the Federal Government plays a major role in preventing and responding to terrorist incidents, the state and local public safety community are the "first responders." Yet most state and local governments lack the specialized equipment and skills needed to respond effectively, especially to attacks involving chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. In coordination with the FBI and the Office of National Preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OJP sponsors training for "first responders" and provides grants to help states and localities obtain needed equipment.

Improve the capacity of state and local law enforcement to respond to emerging or specialized crime issues, such as white collar crime and computer-related crime, by providing targeted training, technical assistance, or other technology innovations.

The Department assists state and local governments in responding to new and emerging crime threats and opportunities in a variety of ways, including research, information sharing, and training. In recent years, the Department has focused on helping state and local governments deal with the challenges of computer-related and white collar crimes that often require sophisticated investigative and prosecutorial skills. For example, the FBI and OJP are working together to distribute the Automated Case Examination System to state and local law enforcement officials to aid them in processing digital evidence in computer-related crime, including health care fraud.

Provide direct technical support to state, local, and tribal law enforcement.

The Department provides direct support and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in a number of ways. These include conducting fingerprint checks under the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), criminal history checks through the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC), and background checks on prospective firearm purchasers using the National Instant Background Check System (NICS). The Bureau also provides DNA profile-matching services through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), including the Mitochondrial DNA database being created within CODIS. Last, the Bureau helps develop state systems which support and interface with these national programs. Another DOJ component, the NDIC, provides the Real-time Analytical Intelligence Database (RAID) database and Hashkeeper software to state and local law enforcement to improve case management and information sharing capabilities.

The FBI lab provides a large share of forensic support for Indian Country investigations. The Indian Country Evidence Task Force, created on June 1, 2000, is composed of FBI Laboratory experts in the disciplines of DNA, trace evidence, latent fingerprints, and firearms. The Bureau also funds Indian Country examinations conducted by the Arizona State Crime Laboratory in Phoenix. Finally, the FBI has established a Forensic Child Interview Specialist position, specifically for Indian Country, to provide investigation assistance, referral services, training in child abuse and interview disciplines, and to coordinate all training programs involving the FBI's efforts in child abuse and assault matters in Indian Country.

Develop and support programs and services that target the reduction of the incidence and consequences of family violence, including domestic violence and child victimization.

Under the Violence Against Women Act, the Department plays a major role in the national effort to prevent and respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and related types of violence. One of our most important aims is to transform how the criminal justice system responds to these crimes. As a result, the Department provides grants to establish programs that create an integrated, coordinated, and strengthened response that actively involves all components of the criminal justice system, victim advocates and service providers, and the community as a whole.

Build knowledge about crime and justice by conducting research and evaluation, developing and testing new technologies, gathering statistics, and disseminating results for more effective criminal justice administration.

Collectively, DOJ components assist state and local governments in the development of justice information systems and the collection, analysis, and dissemination of justice statistics. The Department's National Institute of Justice is the principal federal agency for research on crime. Its role is to build knowledge and develop the tools and technologies that will help the criminal justice community--whether at the federal, state, local, tribal, or international level--prevent and control crime and administer justice. Similarly, the Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is the principal federal agency for collecting and reporting statistics on crime and the operation of our justice systems. Finally, the FBI's Uniform Crime Report and National Incident-Based Reporting System Programs maintain the official crime data repository.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Indian Country. All Department of Justice Indian Country initiatives are coordinated with the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Counterterrorism. The Federal Government's domestic preparedness activities are coordinated by the newly-established Office of National Preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In carrying out its state and local assistance activities, the Department works with FEMA, the Office of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Domestic Violence. The Department works with HHS to examine the causes of violence against women and violence within the family, and provides prevention and intervention services for such violence.

Partnership and New Technologies. The Justice Department and the Department of Defense collaborate on the deployment of technologies that support both national defense and law enforcement needs.

Strategic Objective 3.2 JUVENILE JUSTICE - - Reduce youth crime and victimization through assistance that emphasizes both enforcement and prevention.

Young people are both perpetrators and victims of violent crime. Arrest rates for violent crimes among those aged 15-17 climbed sharply from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. Although declining since the mid 1990s, youth crime rates remain disturbingly high. At the same time, school shootings and other high profile incidents have heightened public concern. The young are also vulnerable to being victimized. Between 1986 and 1993, the number of juveniles abused and neglected doubled. In 1993, the number of juveniles murdered peaked at 2,900. By 1997, it had dropped to 2,100, still substantially above the levels of the mid 1980s when about 1,600 juveniles were murdered annually. Murder is the second leading cause of death for youth 15-24 years of age.

Within the Department, lead responsibility for responding to the problems of youth crime and victimization rests with OJP's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). OJJDP provides leadership, conducts research, and provides financial and other assistance to state, local, and tribal governments to improve their juvenile justice systems and implement effective enforcement and prevention programs.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Provide financial assistance (formula and block grants) to eligible states to support improvements in their juvenile justice systems.

OJJDP provides formula grants to states that comply with certain statutory requirements related to the handling of juveniles, including requirements to confine juveniles separately from adults. In addition, OJJDP provides incentive block grants to states that have taken steps to strengthen the accountability of juvenile offenders for their acts.

Support targeted early intervention and prevention programs that reduce the impact of negative (risk) factors and enhance the influence of positive (protective) factors in the lives of youth at greatest risk of delinquency.

Research has shown that early intervention and positive adult support make a difference. Among the intervention and prevention activities supported by OJJDP are mentoring programs that link at-risk youth with responsible adults who provide guidance, promote personal and social responsibility, discourage gang involvement, and encourage participation in community service and activities. Also included are programs to reduce the illegal use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs; decrease truancy; and increase healthy child development.

Support targeted and comprehensive programs to counter youth violence.

This strategy includes programs to reduce gun-related violence, decrease gang membership, and increase school safety. It also includes efforts to encourage communities to develop comprehensive strategies that emphasize a continuum of programs and services for dealing with serious, violent, and chronic offenders.

Support programs that meet the particular needs of child victims, including those who are missing, abused, or neglected.

Every day about 2,200 children are reported missing to law enforcement. Most of these are runaways. Some are abducted by a noncustodial parent. Some are lost and still others are victims of predators. The Department's Missing Children's Program coordinates the federal response to this problem. It supports research and demonstration programs, provides training and technical assistance, and maintains a national resource center and clearinghouse. Funds are provided under the Crime Victims Fund program to assist states and tribal governments in handling child abuse cases. In addition, the Office for Victims of Crime and the OJJDP support the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program for abused and neglected children.

Focus resources to reduce youth crime and improve juvenile justice operations and services in Indian Country.

To address the significant juvenile justice issues in Indian Country, financial and technical assistance and training will be provided to tribal governments to support prevention initiatives and make juvenile justice system improvements.

Build knowledge about crime and delinquency.

As the Department's principal organization for research on juvenile crime and delinquency, OJJDP's mission is to provide national leadership, coordination, and support to prevent juvenile victimization and respond appropriately to juvenile delinquency. Through its research, testing, and evaluation programs, OJJDP develops the tools and knowledge necessary to support communities in preventing and controlling crime and delinquency and administering justice.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Safe Schools/Healthy Students Program. In this collaborative interagency initiative, the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education have pooled resources, thereby creating one, unified application process that enables school districts to apply for an array of funding to address school violence.

Drug-Free Communities Support Program. In conjunction with the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Department provides grants to support community coalitions of youth, parents, media, law enforcement, school officials, religious organizations, and other community representatives. These coalitions work to prevent and reduce young people's illegal use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

Strategic Objective 3.3 DRUG ABUSE - - Break the cycle of drugs and violence by reducing the demand for and use and trafficking of illegal drugs.

According to the National Drug Control Strategy 2001 Annual Report, more than 1.5 million Americans were arrested for drug law violations in 1999. Together, drug abuse violations and alcohol-related arrests accounted for an estimated 31% of the overall arrests in 1999. And, according to the August 2000, Prisoners in 1999 Report of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, drug offenders account for 19% of state prison population growth.

Assessing the nature and extent of the influence of drugs and violent crime requires reliable information about the offense and the offender. In 1997, a survey conducted for BJS and BOP by the Bureau of Census found that the percentage of federal and state prison inmates who reported they were under the influence of drugs at the time of the offense varied across the major offense categories. However, 24 percent of federal prison inmates and 29 percent of all state prison inmates reported being under the influence of illegal drugs while committing the violent offense for which they were convicted.

Trafficking in illicit drugs tends to be associated with the commission of violent crimes. According to research conducted by ONDCP and supported by statistics collected through the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, 1991-1998, reasons for the relationship between drug trafficking and violence include the following: 1) competition for drug markets and customers; 2) disputes among individuals involved in the illegal drug market; and 3) tendency toward violence of individuals who participate in the trafficking of drugs. In 1998, prisoners sentenced for drug offenses (mainly drug trafficking) constituted the largest group of federal inmates (58 percent, up from 53 percent in 1990).

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Monitor and conduct research on substance use by criminal offenders.

The Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring System is a research program that provides program planning and policy information on drug use by arrestees. Through interviews and drug testing, communities are able to assess the dimensions of their substance abuse problems, evaluate interventions with offender populations, and plan appropriate policy or program responses.

Support programs providing drug testing, treatment, and graduated sanctions for persons under the supervision of the criminal system.

The Department's strategy on how to confront the relationship between substance abuse and crime is largely rooted in research and program experience which indicates that combining criminal justice sanctions with substance abuse treatment–that is, leveraging the coercive power of the system to impose sanctions and provide treatment--is effective in decreasing drug and alcohol use and related crime. Illustrations of this strategy are the Drug Courts program and the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program. Drug Courts use the coercive power of the court to force abstinence and alter behavior. This approach integrates the power of the court with substance abuse treatment, collateral services, judicial supervision, escalating sanctions, mandatory drug testing, and strong aftercare programs to teach responsibility and help offenders reenter the community. Key to their effectiveness in "breaking the cycle" is the collaboration established between the criminal justice and substance abuse treatment systems. RSAT provides individual and group treatment activities for offenders in state and local prisons and jails.

Prevent juvenile use and abuse of drugs.

Young Americans are especially vulnerable to drug abuse. Moreover, studies have shown that underage use of alcohol correlates with later adult drug use. The Department works to prevent juvenile use and abuse of drugs and alcohol through a variety of educational and public outreach programs.

Improve the ability of state and local law enforcement to respond to emerging or specialized drug-related issues by providing timely intelligence information, targeted training, and appropriate technology.

The NDIC's Field Program Specialist initiative provides a framework for identifying emerging or specialized drug-related issues. Field Program Specialists located throughout the United States meet regularly with state and local law enforcement officials and with representatives from the health and human services community to identify and collect the most current drug-related information available within their assigned areas of responsibility. NDIC uses this information to prepare timely information bulletins on drug-related topics such as OxyContin, various synthetic drugs, and raves, and widely disseminates these publications to increase awareness. The NDIC also supports state and local law enforcement through its quarterly multi-agency training program and by providing the RAID database to enhance their case management abilities.

Reduce the demand for and use and trafficking of illegal drugs

The Department works to reduce the demand, use, and trafficking of illegal drugs through funds provided via the Edward Byrne Memorial Formula Grant Program. Through the Byrne Program, state and local law enforcement agencies build networks to reduce demand and increase knowledge regarding substance abuse, illegal drug trafficking networks, and the advent of synthetic and controlled substances like methamphetamine.

Key Crosscutting Programs

The Department coordinates its substance abuse treatment programs with ONDCP and the HHS Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.

Strategic Objective 3.4 VICTIMS OF CRIME - - Uphold the rights of and improve services to America's crime victims.

One of the major changes in America's response to crime in the last three decades is the recognition of rights and needs of crime victims. In 1984, Congress enacted the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) which authorized the establishment of a Crime Victims Fund and authorized direct services programs and national-scope training and technical assistance to benefit crime victims. The fund is comprised of fines, penalties, and bond forfeitures collected from convicted federal offenders. With the passage of VOCA, the Department provides leadership and safeguards the rights of crime victims by developing policy, funding practices which show promise, monitoring compliance with federal victims' rights statutes, and supporting public awareness and education activities intended to promote justice for crime victims.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Implement procedures to streamline the claims process under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Acts of 1976.

The Office of Justice Programs will expedite the delivery of benefits to public safety officers' families. In cases where benefits are sought by survivors of officers (including law enforcement officers, firemen, emergency response squad members, and ambulance crew members) killed in the line of duty on September 11, 2001, OJP will accept blanket certifications from executives of public safety agencies as evidence of eligibility without requiring further individualized documentation. In addition, OJP will add staff to assist in case processing, establish a separate computer data base to expedite and monitor processing, provide first hand assistance to families in the assembly of claims packages, and work with the Department of Treasury to expedite payments once claims are approved.

Provide financial and technical assistance (including training) to meet the needs of crime victims.

Formula grants are provided to the states to support victim compensation and assistance programs. These programs assist victims in paying medical, mental health, funeral, and other expenses; they may also offset lost wages and loss of support. Victim assistance funds are awarded to domestic violence shelters, child abuse treatment programs, rape crisis centers, and criminal justice-based assistance programs which provide crisis counseling, advocacy, intervention, shelter, and emergency services for crime victims. In addition, training and technical assistance, through discretionary grants and contracts to private, nonprofit organizations, are provided for a wide variety of professionals who interface with crime victims at the national, international, state, local, tribal, and military levels.

Develop knowledge about the needs of child victims, including those who are missing, abused, or neglected.

The Department will conduct research and evaluation to generate new knowledge about the needs of child victims. It will also develop and test new strategies, gather statistics, and disseminate information to the research and practitioner communities.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Activities focused on providing services and assistance to victims of federal crimes are coordinated among Department components (DEA, FBI, USAs, INS and Civil Rights Division) and other federal agencies. These activities are described further under Strategic Objective 7.2.

Strategic Objective 3.5 COMMUNITY SERVICES - - Support innovative cooperative and community-based programs aimed at reducing crime and violence and promote resolution of racial tension.

Although crime is a national problem, it is more directly and immediately a community problem. Community-based programs work to empower communities, build safer and healthier neighborhoods, and strengthen social and familial ties. Research has shown that one of the most effective ways to reduce crime is through community-based programs. Key to these programs is the establishment of collaborative partnerships among criminal justice agencies, other private and public organizations (e.g., schools, religious centers, tribal colleges), and residents and groups within a given community. These partnerships enable the resources of these diverse parties to be directed toward solving specific crime problems and help ensure that local residents and organizations who best understand their own needs and resource requirements are given the tools to accomplish their goals.

Similarly, racial tensions adversely affect local communities, officials, community leaders, private individuals, and businesses. Racial tensions have a lasting effect on communities and, if left to fester, can lead to more serious conflicts and violence, including major civil disturbances and fatalities. The Department, through the Community Relations Service, has learned through decades of experience that persons directly affected by racial tensions are the best source of solutions for resolving local conflicts and for reducing community violence and racial tension. Only through cooperative efforts by police chiefs, local elected officials, community and business leaders, and only by their combined energy and willingness to promote the resolution of racial tensions, can the different needs and interests of all parties be identified and addressed in a satisfactory manner.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Encourage community-based approaches to crime and justice at the state and local level through comprehensive and collaborative programs.

Community-based initiatives provide for community involvement in the choice, design, and implementation of programs, flexible use of federal funding, and the creative mixing of local and federal resources. The Weed and Seed program is the Department's flagship effort in community-based efforts to prevent and control violent crime and provide a safe environment in which community residents can live, work, and raise their families. The approach couples intense geographically-targeted law enforcement efforts with community-focused human services programs and neighborhood improvement initiatives. "Weeding" includes law enforcement efforts to remove violent offenders, drug traffickers, and other criminals from the target areas. "Seeding" includes human services, law enforcement-established prevention programs (such as the FBI's "Adopt-A-School" and "Citizens' Academy" programs), and neighborhood revitalization efforts.

Assist communities in preventing violence and responding to conflicts that arise from racial and ethnic tension.

The Community Relations Service will improve and expand its delivery of conflict resolution and violence prevention services to state and local officials and community leaders in the coming years. These services include direct mediation and conciliation; transfer of knowledge and expertise in the establishment of partnerships and formal agreements for locally-derived solutions; development of community trust and cooperation; improvement of local preparedness for addressing violence and civil disorders; and assistance in enhancing the local capacity to resolve conflicts. The most significant benefits to state and local communities of CRS's intervention are the cessation of racial violence, restoration of peace in the community, restoration of public trust in the local government and law enforcement, and reduction in the likelihood of recurring violence.

Support community policing initiatives.

Community policing is a strategy that builds on fundamental policing practices, but shifts from a reactive to a proactive mode. Community policing emphasizes prevention, problem-solving, and forging strong collaborative partnerships between the police and the community. Community policing opens lines of communication between police and community residents and engages them in mutually supportive efforts to identify and resolve problems. The Department has supported community policing over the years through research and demonstration programs and, more recently, through funding to hire and deploy community-oriented police officers.

Support community justice initiatives.

"Community justice" refers to a variety of non-traditional approaches to criminal justice activities, including prosecution and corrections. Largely an extension of the ideas underlying community policing, community justice programs are characterized by a commitment to partnership with the community and a focus on problem-solving.

Key Crosscutting Programs

In implementing its community-based programs the Department works closely with all levels of government. At the federal level, these include the Departments of Labor, HHS, Education, and Treasury. DOJ components, particularly CRS, OJP, and COPS also work extensively with state and local officials and community groups in delivering their services.

MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Grant Management - The Department's grant programs have a high risk for fraud given the large amount of money involved and the tens of thousands of grantees. Due to the size of DOJ grant programs, there is compelling need for proper dispensation and monitoring of funds, including complete on-site monitoring reviews; grantee compliance with reporting rules; and appropriate methodologies for reimbursing applicants for payment programs.

 

Goal 4:  PROTECT THE RIGHTS AND INTEREST OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BY LEGAL REPRESENTATION, ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL LAWS AND DEFENSE OF U.S. INTERESTS

---

The Department of Justice is the Nation's chief litigator. Its attorneys represent the United States Government in court, enforcing federal civil and criminal statutes, including those protecting civil rights, safeguarding the environment, preserving a competitive market structure, and defending the public fisc against unwarranted claims. Carrying out these responsibilities is the primary task of the U.S. Attorneys (USAs), the Department's litigating divisions, and the Office of the Solicitor General. The USAs serve as the Attorney General's chief law enforcement officers in each of the 94 federal judicial districts, representing the United States in both civil and criminal matters. The litigating divisions are centralized staffs with specialized expertise in particular areas of federal law, including civil rights, environmental law, antitrust, tax, civil justice, and criminal law. The Office of the Solicitor General represents the interests of the United States before the U.S. Supreme Court and authorizes and monitors the government's activities in the Nation's appellate courts. Together, these Justice components ensure that the Federal Government speaks with one voice with respect to the law.

Strategic Objective 4.1 CIVIL RIGHTS - - Uphold the civil rights of all Americans, reduce racial discrimination, and promote reconciliation through vigorous enforcement of civil rights laws.

The Department of Justice promotes compliance with basic federal civil rights protections through a multifaceted program of criminal enforcement, civil enforcement, public education, and outreach. The Nation's civil rights laws influence a broad spectrum of conduct by individuals as well as public and private institutions. They prohibit discriminatory conduct in such areas as the administration of justice, housing, employment, education, voting, lending, public accommodations, access to services and facilities, activities that receive federal financial assistance, and the treatment of juvenile and adult detainees and residents of public institutions. They also provide safeguards against criminal actions such as official misconduct and hate crimes. In the wake of the terrorist attacks, the Department will pay particular attention to violence and threats of violence against law-abiding Arab-Americans and other Americans of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent.

During the past five years, more than 800 individuals have been charged with federal criminal civil rights crimes, including official misconduct, incidents of racial and religious violence, violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances . Act, and trafficking and involuntary servitude violations. While some violations may most appropriately be pursued by the Federal Government, others can be addressed by either the Federal Government or by state or local prosecutors. The ultimate goal is to ensure that acts constituting federal criminal civil rights violations are sufficiently remedied, whether prosecuted federally or by local authorities.

Departmental attorneys litigate cases stemming from myriad statutes. For example, the Department enforces the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other statutes that safeguard the right to vote of all individuals who are eligible, and that prohibit voting practices and procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.

The Department enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with respect to state and local government employers. Title VII prohibits discrimination in employment because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin or retaliation against individuals who exercise their rights under the law, such as their right to file a charge of discrimination or to protest a practice that they reasonably believe is unlawful under the statute.

Department attorneys also enforce Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which provides for the orderly desegregation of public elementary and secondary schools, and public colleges and universities. The Department's jurisdiction to act is triggered by the receipt of a written complaint from a parent or a student alleging that the student has been denied equal protection of the laws, or in the cases of public colleges, that the student has been denied admission or not permitted to continue to attend the college on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or religion.

In addition, the Department enforces the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974, which prohibits discrimination in student and faculty assignment, and faculty and staff employment, and requires that states and school districts take appropriate action to overcome students' language barriers that impede equal participation in the instructional program. Furthermore, the Department has enforcement responsibility, upon receiving a referral from a government agency, to enforce several statutes that prohibit recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race and national origin, sex, and disability.

The Department enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination in housing, consumer credit, and public accommodations. The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 substantially expanded the Department's enforcement authority to combat housing discrimination by enabling it for the first time: (1) to initiate cases referred by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), on behalf of individuals who have been discriminated against; and (2) to seek actual and punitive damages for aggrieved individuals in both the HUD-referred cases and the pattern or practice cases the Department has had authority to bring since 1968. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits discrimination in credit transactions on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or on the basis that an applicant's income is from public assistance. Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin in certain public accommodations, such as restaurants, hotels and motels, and places of entertainment.

Finally, the Department enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on behalf of people with disabilities to make the promise of equal access to everyday life a reality. Enforcement responsibilities cover a broad spectrum of potential actions to encourage individuals and entities to comply with ADA requirements, including new construction, removal of physical barriers, provision of auxiliary aids, access to employment, and elimination of discriminatory policies.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Target specific actions as part of a comprehensive strategy to safeguard the civil rights of all persons residing in the United States.

The Civil Rights Division intends to achieve its objective by, among other things, (1) developing constructive measures to promote law enforcement integrity and combat official misconduct or other criminal conduct; (2) protecting new immigrants to America by vigorously prosecuting those who exploit their vulnerability through the trafficking in persons; (3) prosecuting vigorously allegations that any American has been excluded unlawfully from polling places or that individuals or organizations have diluted lawful votes by virtue of vote fraud; (4) emphasizing the enforcement of our fair housing laws; (5) implementing the New Freedom Initiative, a comprehensive set of proposals designed to help increase access for Americans with disabilities to innovative new technologies that will facilitate their more full and active participation in our society, as well as expand their educational opportunities, better integrate them into the workforce, and promote full access to -- and involvement in -- community life.

Educate the American business community and state and local governments regarding federal civil rights laws and requirements.

Non-adversarial interaction to achieve voluntary change through education, outreach, and mediation has been an important strategy toward reducing and deterring civil rights violations. For example, the Civil Rights Division's Technical Assistance Program, mandated under Section 506 of the ADA, provides answers to questions and free publications to businesses, state and local governments, people with disabilities, and the general public.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Generally, the Department's civil rights enforcement and outreach are coordinated with all federal agencies that provide financial assistance to state, local, and nonprofit agencies, and with the other federal agencies with civil rights enforcement responsibilities (e.g., the Departments of HUD, Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Transportation). Coordination includes long-standing working relationships, such as jointly developing policy guidelines and handling enforcement cases, and more short-term task forces to address specific problems. Current task forces and agreements include:

Interagency Fair Lending Task Force. The bank regulatory agencies (Federal Reserve Board, Office of Thrift Supervision, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), HUD, and the Department are members of an interagency fair lending task force that meets regularly to consult on fair lending policy and periodically issues joint policy statements.

National Task Force on Violence Against Care Providers. The National Task Force on Violence Against Health Care Providers coordinates the investigation and prosecution of violations of the Freedom of Clinic Entrances Act. The Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI provide investigators, and the Treasury Department helps to oversee this prosecutorial effort, staffed primarily by prosecutors from DOJ's Civil Rights Division.

Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force. In 1998, the Attorney General created the interagency Worker Exploitation Task Force, which is now known as the Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force, to coordinate the investigation, prosecution, and protection of victims of trafficking and other exploitive work practices. The task force is co-chaired by the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division and the Solicitor of Labor. Other federal partners include the Departments of State, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services; the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; and the National Labor Relations Board.

Memorandum of Understanding on Housing Rights. The The Department's Civil Rights Division and HUD have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to ensure that criminal interference with housing rights is addressed through the most effective means. HUD refers all forcible interference reports to the Civil Rights Division, which reviews and either pursues or defers back to HUD for further action. This allows instances of provable criminal violations to be addressed through prosecution and then processed for civil remedies through HUD.

Memorandum of Understanding on Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program. The Departments of Justice, Treasury, and HUD have a Memorandum of Understanding to promote enhanced compliance with the Fair Housing Act in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program administered by the Internal Revenue Service. Violations of the Fair Housing Act could result in a property owner's loss of low-income housing tax credits. The MOU establishes (1) a monitoring and notification process among the three agencies; (2) a commitment to interagency training and technical assistance; (3) a commitment to training for state housing finance agencies and architects; and (4) an agreement for interagency cooperation for research, identification, and removal of unlawful barriers to LIHTC housing.

Strategic Objective 4.2 ENVIRONMENT - - Promote the stewardship of America's environment and natural resources through the enforcement and defense of environmental laws and programs.

As the Nation's chief environmental litigator, the Department enforces federal pollution abatement laws and programs to protect the health and environment of the United States and its citizens. DOJ attorneys also defend suits challenging environmental and conservation laws, programs, and activities; represent the United States in all matters concerning the protection, use and development of the Nation's natural resources and public lands; and litigate on behalf of Indian tribes and individual Indians.

In performing these functions, the Department seeks to obtain redress of past violations that harm the environment, establish credible deterrents against future violations of these laws, recoup federal funds spent to abate environmental contamination, and obtain money to restore or replace natural resources damaged through oil spills or the release of hazardous substances into the environment. We also take action to ensure that the Federal Government receives appropriate royalties and income from activities on public lands and waters.

In addition, the Department defends challenges to federal environmental and conservation programs and activities by representing the United States in all matters concerning the protection, use, and development of the Nation's public lands and natural resources. Representing virtually every federal agency, the DOJ faces a growing workload in a wide variety of natural resource areas, including litigation over water quality and watersheds, the management of public lands and natural resources, endangered species and sensitive habitats, and land acquisition and exchanges.

A related concern is the trust relationships the United States has with Indians and Indian tribes through numerous treaties, statutes, and Executive Orders. Under these authorities, the Federal Government performs a number of functions on behalf of these tribes, including litigating to establish or defend their rights. These suits include establishing water rights, establishing and protecting hunting and fishing rights, collecting damages for trespass on Indian lands, and establishing reservation boundaries and land rights.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Pursue cases against those who violate laws that protect public health, the environment, and natural resources.

The Department will represent client agencies in litigation and assist in the development of enforcement strategies that seek effective compliance with, and deter violation of, the Nation's environmental and conservation laws. The Department will strive for the fair and consistent application of these laws across the country.

For example, the Department will pursue affirmative enforcement of statutes designed to address the cleanup of hazardous waste sites; the management of hazardous wastes and used oil; the pollution of surface waters and the integrity of drinking water; the quality of air and the regulation of chemical substances and mixtures which present a risk to human health and the environment; the regulation of pesticides; and the regulation of ocean and coastal water. In these cases, the Department will work to attain economic parity for U.S. industry by assuring that illegal operators do not achieve an economic advantage through noncompliance with the Nation's laws. That this approach has been effective is evidenced by the Department's landmark settlements with more than a dozen refineries throughout the country that have agreed to reduce air emissions significantly.

The Department will work to ensure proper payments to the U.S. from income-generating activities on public lands, including timber, mining, grazing, and oil and gas production. It will take enforcement actions that protect endangered species, sensitive habitats, and natural resources in national parks and marine sanctuaries. DOJ will pursue claims for natural resource damages on behalf of federal agencies that act as trustees of those resources, including the Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce Departments. The Department will seek claims for contribution against private parties for contamination of public lands and recoupment of monies spent by the Coast Guard to clean up oil spills. DOJ also will pursue claims that wetlands or other U.S. waters have been filled without required Clean Water Act permits.

In carrying out these responsibilities. the Department will continue to emphasize the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and other litigation-streamlining techniques to achieve faster, more comprehensive, and more cost-effective resolution of these complex cases. ADR has proven to be a valuable tool for the Department and client agencies to resolve environmental disputes and achieve compliance.

Defend U.S. interests against suits challenging statutes and agency actions

The Department will continue to represent client agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Forest Service, in suits challenging the Government's administration of federal environmental, conservation, and land management laws. The Department will also defend claims that federal agencies have violated pollution laws or allegations that they have taken real property without just compensation, violating the Fifth Amendment.

The Department will defend federal agencies in suits alleging that the Federal Government is not complying with a federal, state, or local pollution-control law. For example, the Department is currently defending multiple challenges to the Navy's training exercises on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, as well as challenges to the Army's destruction of its stockpile of chemical weapons. The Department also will defend claims arising under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabilities Act that a federal agency is a liable party at a Superfund site and so must share in the costs of cleanup. Ongoing litigation includes significant cases arising from the Federal Government's regulation of the economy during World War II.

As defense attorney, the Department represents federal land management agencies in challenges to regulatory and permit activities which impact public lands. The Department will defend decisions to allow oil and gas leasing on public lands, including the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska, along with other actions the land management agencies take in fulfillment of their multiple use mandates. The Department also will defend the management and planning activities of the National Marine Fisheries Service and Fish and Wildlife Service regarding endangered species and habitats.

The Department faces a growing caseload in the natural resource areas. Defensive litigation includes representing U.S. interests in general stream adjudications. This involves thousands of parties and tens of thousands of water claims in western states; lawsuits over the restoration and management of public lands, waters, and natural resources; wildlife protection; and the acquisition of federal property. Other Departmental priorities include litigation arising from the recommendations of the President's National Energy Policy Task Force, forest management, access to public lands, and Administration programmatic goals.

Develop constructive partnerships with other federal agencies, state and local governments, and interested parties to maximize environmental compliance and natural resource management.

The Department emphasizes constructive relationships with all involved federal agencies, state and local governments, tribes, and the public. Working cooperatively with state attorneys general on joint enforcement actions is a recent successful priority. States are now routinely given the opportunity to join the Department in enforcement cases and, where appropriate, share in any penalties obtained in settlements. Through supplemental environmental projects in civil cases, the public harmed by the illegal activity can be assisted in recovery. For instance, as part of a ground-breaking settlement, a company accused of violating the Clean Air Act agreed not only to replace refrigerant chemicals that destroy the earth's ozone layer with environmentally friendly alternatives, but also to fund an environmental justice project benefitting a low-income community in Louisiana.

From February to August 2001, the Federal Government worked cooperatively with 40 states in joint enforcement actions, joint defense cases, or joint projects. During that period, the Division and 26 state co-plaintiffs have filed settlements in 30 civil environmental enforcement actions. Our goal is to have cooperative working relationships with all 50 states by the end of FY 2001, and to continue thereafter. To facilitate this goal, DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division has established the position of Counsel for State and Local Affairs to serve as a liaison with state and local officials. It has also established a policy to notify states in advance of our civil environmental enforcement cases within their borders, and to initiate discussions about joint enforcement in appropriate cases.

Act in accordance with U.S. trust responsibilities to Indian tribes and individual Indians in litigation involving the interests of Indians.

The United States has established trust relationships with Indians and Indian tribes through numerous treaties, statutes, and Executive Orders. Under these authorities, the federal government is obligated to perform a number of functions on behalf of these tribes, including litigating to establish or defend their rights. The Department represents the United States in its trust capacity. This work includes development, investigation, and litigation of environmental issues that arise on Indian reservations; it also includes the pursuit of longstanding land and water claims on behalf of Indian tribes. The Department is responsible for protecting treaty-based hunting and fishing rights. The Department is also charged with protecting tribal regulatory, adjudicatory, and tax jurisdiction, including a tribe's sovereignty to exercise jurisdiction in domestic relations cases involving tribal members, and to enforce gaming laws and state compacts.

Act in accordance with U.S. trust responsibilities to individual Indians and Indian tribes in litigation involving Indian interests.

The United States has established trust relationships with Indians and Indian tribes through numerous treaties, statutes, and Executive Orders. Under these authorities, the Federal Government is obligated to perform a number of functions on behalf of these tribes, including litigating to establish or defend their rights. The Department represents the United States in its trust capacity. This work includes development, investigation, and litigation of environmental issues that arise on Indian reservations; it also includes the pursuit of longstanding land and water claims on behalf of Indian tribes. The Department is responsible for protecting treaty-based hunting and fishing rights. The Department is also charged with protecting tribal regulatory, adjudicatory, and tax jurisdiction, including a tribe's sovereignty to exercise jurisdiction in domestic relations cases involving tribal members, and to enforce gaming laws and state compacts.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Coordination and Enforcement of Environmental Health Hazards. On behalf of HUD and EPA, the Department enforces the federal lead-based paint disclosure rule and provides assistance to local and state governments in enforcement of their own hazard control regulations.

Land Acquisition and Everglades Restoration. The Department is working to acquire land in South Florida needed by the Corps of Engineers, the EPA, and other federal and State agencies for implementation of the plan designed to improve water quality and drainage in the Florida Everglades.

Pipeline Safety. The Department, in conjunction with the Department of Transportation, EPA, and other federal and state agencies, is involved in litigation to ensure the safety of interstate pipelines.

Water Rights Adjudication and Public Land Management. With federal land management agencies, states, tribes, and other interested parties, the Department is involved in a number of complex negotiations over water allocations among various user groups in the western U.S.

Environmental Remediation and Natural Resource Restoration. The Department is representing three federal agencies (EPA, Department of the Interior, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) concerning the contamination of the Fox River and Green Bay in northeastern Wisconsin. Working closely with the State of Wisconsin and two Indian tribes, the Department filed suit to address Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) contamination affecting 39 miles of sediment in the Fox Valley, which has the largest concentration of paper mills in the world.

Strategic Objective 4.3 ANTITRUST - - Promote economic competition through enforcement of and guidance on antitrust laws and principles.

The Department maintains and promotes competitive markets largely by enforcing federal antitrust laws. These laws affect virtually all industries and apply to every phase of business, including manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and marketing. They prohibit a variety of practices that restrain trade, such as mergers likely to reduce the competitive vigor of particular markets and predatory acts designed to maintain or achieve monopoly power. Successful enforcement of these laws - - which both decreases and deters anticompetitive behavior - - saves U.S. consumers billions of dollars, allows them to receive goods and services of the highest quality at the lowest price, and enables U.S. businesses to compete on a level playing field nationally and internationally.

Several key trends have impact on the Department's antitrust efforts. The first of these is the globalization of trade. The second is rapid technological change. The third is deregulation. All three trends have ramifications for the Department's antitrust work and workload.

The value of mergers occurring globally is significant, and large cross-border mergers are no longer an anomaly. In our civil non-merger program, as well, the cases we encounter often have global reach. Whether taking more time to coordinate with foreign antitrust counterparts or more money to translate foreign documents, the Department's increasingly common investigations with international dimensions are significantly more complex than in previous years.

A number of our most important industries have been characterized recently by unprecedented levels of technological change. The accelerated flow of information means the collection and review of evidence has become more laborious. The greater technological sophistication of the marketplace means the methods to constrain competition have become more sophisticated, as well. New industries are created virtually overnight. The Department must stay on top of all these developments to effectively enforce the antitrust laws.

In recent decades, legislative and regulatory changes in the United States have reversed a generation of pervasive government regulation and have deregulated such basic industries as telecommunications, energy, financial services, and transportation. Competition, with appropriate reliance upon antitrust laws, has again become the norm. This transition has meant an increased role for antitrust - - both working with various agencies to find ways to replace regulatory constraints with competitive incentives and effectively following up with necessary enforcement of the broader antitrust laws as may become necessary. Again, the Department is faced with more work that is more complex.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Investigate and litigate business arrangements and practices that encourage anticompetitive behavior and reduce competition.

The Department employs two distinct strategies to decrease and deter anticompetitive business behavior and practices. First is our merger enforcement strategy. This strategy focuses on the investigation and litigation of instances in which monopoly power is sought, attained, or maintained through anticompetitive conduct. The Government seeks injunctive relief against mergers and acquisitions that may substantially lessen competition.

Second, our civil non-merger enforcement strategy supports the investigation and prosecution of civil non-merger matters to suspend or deter anticompetitive behavior. Other behavior, such as group boycotts or exclusive dealing arrangements that inappropriately restrain free and open trade or commerce is illegal under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

Advance procompetitive national and international laws, regulations, and policies.

With a number of activities distinct in form and audience, the Department promotes competition through further improvement of the competitive landscape at all levels: inter- or intra-governmentally, nationally, and internationally. Departmental resources are devoted to participation in interagency regulatory processes, for example, to ensure that business practices conform with regulatory rules. In addition, Department officials routinely participate in interagency task forces related to competition issues. At the international level, Department membership in bodies such as the World Trade Organization provides an opportunity for the promotion of "competition-friendly" policies and practices. In all cases, our goal remains the deterrence of anticompetitive behavior.

Guide and educate businesses, consumers, and counterpart agencies about antitrust law to increase their awareness and understanding.

Whether through direct contact and targeted communication with specific audiences, or via the development, publication, and distribution of policy guidance, the Department seeks to increase the breadth and depth of awareness of antitrust law. One example of Departmental activity in this area is our Business Review Program, which provides timely information on antitrust law and how it applies under different situations, along with the likely reaction of the Department to a proposed business action or arrangement. Another example is tailored training provided to state antitrust attorneys and investigators. In all instances, by reaching as many individuals, companies, agencies, and other groups as possible, and by providing them with detailed and specific guidance on the law, the Department seeks to promote competitive behavior and deter anticompetitive behavior.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Merger Clearance Process. Section 7 of the Clayton Act, as amended, requires certain enterprises that plan to merge or to enter into acquisition transactions to notify the Department's Antitrust Division and the FTC of their intention, and to submit certain information to those authorities. Once pre-merger notification has been made, the Department and the FTC employ a clearance process, based largely on complementary areas of expertise, in order to quickly determine which body will review and/or investigate a particular merger transaction. Following clearance, the transaction is reviewed to determine whether there are any competitive issues at stake. Throughout the clearance process the agencies maintain close communication in order to ensure that competitive concerns are addressed efficiently and effectively and that the process is undertaken without unduly burdening legitimate business interests.

Strategic Objective 4.4 TAX LAWS - - Promote the fair, correct, and uniform enforcement of the federal tax laws and the collection of tax debts to protect the federal fisc from unjustified claims.

The Department strives to enforce the federal tax laws consistently and impartially and to ensure that taxpayers are treated fairly. The federal tax laws and regulations are complicated and, as a nation, we depend upon individuals and corporations to comply voluntarily with the tax code. Enforcement plays an important role toward ensuring voluntary compliance and realizing the maximum legal collection of tax revenues. The Department assists the IRS with one of its key strategic objectives, "Increasing Voluntary Compliance." Referred from the IRS, the Department's work of enforcing federal tax laws includes litigating all federal civil tax cases appealed to the United States courts of appeal and state appellate courts; investigating and prosecuting individuals and corporations for tax evasion; and litigating all civil tax lawsuits filed in federal district courts, bankruptcy courts, the Court of Federal Claims, and state courts.

Given the complexity of the code, many disputes arise on its application to a specific individual or business. When the disputes are not resolved through IRS administrative processes, they often become lawsuits in federal and state courts. The taxpayer may appeal an unfavorable lower court decision to a higher federal court of appeals or state appellate court. Department trial attorneys litigate these cases both in the lower courts and the appellate courts. A significant portion of these suits are tax refund claims challenging the IRS's determination of a taxpayer's federal income, employment, excise, and/or estate tax liabilities.

Defending federal tax claims as well as defending the feasibility of reorganization plans in bankruptcy proceedings represents another major portion of civil litigation. The Department's tax litigation docket also includes enforcement of IRS administrative summonses that seek information essential to determine and collect taxpayers' liabilities; suits to collect taxes and other monies often hidden by fraudulent conveyances, sham entities, and alter egos; suits against IRS and other government officials for torts and constitutional violations allegedly committed in connection with tax collection activities; suits against the IRS brought pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts; and state and local intergovernmental tax immunity suits. The Department also defends the constitutionality of tax statutes and the validity of Treasury Department regulations.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Litigate, both defensively and affirmatively, federal civil tax cases filed by and against taxpayers in federal courts.

Defensive litigation by the Department's civil trial attorneys often involves thousands of tax cases pending administratively at the IRS and generates significant revenue for the federal treasury. Defensive litigation also includes Department trial attorneys representing IRS officers against complaints made by taxpayers who allege misconduct by government officials for activities related to tax collection. These lawsuits can cripple morale if employees who have done nothing improper believe that they can be held personally liable for simply doing their jobs. The IRS workforce relies upon the Department for a vigorous defense against spurious lawsuits.

Approximately 10 percent of the Department's civil tax litigation docket involves responses to frivolous tax protest arguments. These resource-intensive cases are essential to keep illegal tax protest activities from increasing. Honest taxpayers who perceive that individuals engaging in illegal tax protest activities have "gotten away with it" will themselves be discouraged from voluntarily paying their taxes. This litigation saves the U.S. Treasury millions of dollars annually.

Also important to the Department's strategy is its affirmative civil litigation program. Litigation activities include seeking judgments to enforce IRS assessments against taxpayers in cases involving fraudulent transfers made by delinquent taxpayers attempting to place their assets out of the reach of the IRS. They also include the enforcement and foreclosure of federal tax liens. The Department is beginning to initiate more affirmative litigation against persons who employ increasingly sophisticated means to unlawfully shield their assets from collection.

As part of their representation of the IRS in the courts, Department civil trial attorneys conduct, in each case, an independent review of the Service's administrative determinations. This review often results with the Tax Division declining to bring certain affirmative litigation; in defensive cases the review may result in some complete concessions, where Department attorneys determine that the IRS's administrative position cannot be legally or factually supported. This vital review function promotes the integrity of the federal tax system by ensuring that taxpayers and others involved in trial-level litigation are treated fairly and consistently nationwide.

Provide expert counsel and litigation support to defend U.S. interests in federal civil tax cases appealed to federal appeals and state appellate courts.

Department trial attorneys provide expert counsel and litigation support on all federal civil tax cases that are appealed to the United States courts of appeal and state appellate courts. Defending the IRS against a wide variety of taxpayer appeals is critical for ensuring taxpayers are treated fairly as well as ensuring that the federal tax code is applied in a fair and impartial manner. The Department's work also ensures that the federal fisc is protected against unjustified claims. Many of the tax cases appealed involve millions, and in some cases, billions of dollars of potential tax revenue.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Joint Trust Task Force Working Group. Coordinated efforts between the IRS and the Department are necessary to combat abusive trusts, which pose a significant problem for our tax system. In that regard, the Tax Division and the IRS have established a Joint Trust Task Force Working Group to identify in advance, and to propose solutions for, issues which affect criminal and civil actions in this area.

Strategic Objective 4.5 CIVIL LAWS - - Effectively represent the interests of the United States in all civil matters for which the Department of Justice has jurisdiction.

The Department, through its Civil Division and the U.S. Attorneys, each year represents some 200 federal agencies in litigation arising from federal contracts or alleged government misconduct. We also defend challenges to the laws, policies, and programs of the United States.

Civil lawsuits involving large monetary claims are a fact of life. Plaintiffs advancing contract claims, allegations of negligence, claims of patent infringement, and the like seek to assign liability to the Government in lawsuits where huge sums of money are at risk. The majority of civil suits handled by the Department are defensive. Over the last decade the number of cases involving multibillion dollar stakes has virtually doubled. Moreover, changes in the law have radically increased the exposure of the United States, as an employer and as an insurer of extra-governmental entities, to potential liability. That increase is reflected in case numbers, complexity, and dollar amounts. It is the Department's job to ensure that only those claims with merit under the law are paid.

New laws, typically enacted only after a painstaking legislative process, are often attacked in court. Recent litigation challenging the laws and policies of the United States involves some of the most probing issues of our time. Examples include gun control, pornography on cable television and the Internet, welfare reform, gays in the military, and tobacco regulation. Unlike the majority of civil suits handled by the Department which involve monetary claims, these lawsuits seek remedies that can affect vital aspects of our society - - how we respond to violence, poverty, and the emergence of the Information Age.

Other lawsuits take aim at various provisions of our entitlement programs and can profoundly affect federal expenditures. Reforms embodied in the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 and subsequent legislation will continue to generate broad class actions seeking millions of dollars in increased federal aid. It is likely that housing and health care reform legislation in the next few years will also be fertile areas for litigation. It is a near certainty that as the multiyear effort to reform the Social Security Administration's $58 billion disability benefits program reaches the implementation stage during the next few years, numerous substantial broad-based challenges will be launched.

In a number of situations, through the implementation of specialized tort compensation systems, the Department has improved access to justice for the Nation's citizens, leading to more efficient and effective resolution of disputes in the areas of occupational disease and vaccine injury. The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) created an alternative to traditional product liability and medical malpractice litigation for persons alleging injury from vaccinations. Under the NVICP, individuals meeting the statutory criteria are compensated fairly and quickly, and non-meritorious cases are successfully defended, thereby preserving Program funds for those who are truly entitled to them. Under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), individuals who contracted certain diseases as a result of their exposure to radiation released during nuclear weapons tests or in underground uranium mines have received over $244 million in compensation since the Department's RECA Program began receiving claims in 1992. Through the RECA Program, individuals whose health was put at risk to serve the national security interests of the United States are provided an effective, efficient, non-adversarial forum in which to seek redress.

In addition to providing representation in the kinds of cases discussed above, the Department must respond to a variety of immigration-related suits, mostly dealing with challenges targeting orders of exclusion, detention, and expulsion. Over the course of the past decade, this workload has tripled, coinciding with intensified enforcement efforts and the emergence of new laws. The lion's share of immigration litigation involves individual challenges and class action suits directed against the actions and determinations of INS, immigration judges, and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

While only a minority of immigration cases and matters involves suspected alien terrorists, antiterrorism efforts will receive greater emphasis in the Department in the foreseeable future. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act have significantly expanded the Department's role in the fight against international terrorism. The Civil Division figures prominently in interagency efforts to designate foreign terrorist organizations for purposes of criminal and civil terrorism fund-raising laws, the defense of such designations, and the defense of the fund-raising provisions themselves against constitutional and other attacks. The Civil Division also heads the Alien Terrorist Removal Court litigation unit.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are lost to the U.S. Treasury each year as a result of procurement fraud, health care fraud, loan defaults, and bankruptcies. These losses reduce resources vital to a host of federally-funded programs, including Medicare. Efforts to recoup money owed to the United States have yielded huge collections in the past decade - - over $11 billion. Further, criminal prosecutions have resulted in court-ordered criminal restitution and fines collection, the responsibility for which falls to the Justice Department. Today's docket includes a number of matters that are massive with respect to potential recoveries, the size of evidentiary collections, and the complexity of issues that underscore the Government's case. As our adversaries enlist the help of top law firms and consultants, substantial Government resources are required to achieve favorable settlements and judgments on behalf of the United States and victims of crime.

Finally, violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act; the Consumer Product Safety Act; and the Federal Trade Commission Act pose threats to the health and safety of millions of Americans. When such violations involve major patterns of fraud, illegal conduct, and unfair credit and marketing practices, the Department pursues civil and criminal actions to stop and deter such activity. The emergence of the Internet has provided a new and extraordinarily powerful medium for marketing products and services. Contributors to the Internet have enjoyed a virtually free rein on marketing approaches. While this "open" approach has provided the public with an explosion of information, it has also created the means for large-scale fraud, deception, and criminal practice.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Assert the interests of the U.S. Treasury, prevailing against unwarranted monetary claims while resolving fairly those claims with merit.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are saved annually as a result of the Department's successes in defending national interests in major defensive lawsuits against unwarranted monetary claims on the public fisc. Such defensive litigation requires the diligence of Department staff who fight for and guard the financial interests of the United States at trial, at the settlement table, and at the highest levels of judicial review, asserting the Government's interest in major disputes as they proceed through appellate stages.

Defend the laws, programs, and policies of the United States when challenged in court, including those which affect how sizeable portions of the federal budget are spent.

Defending the national interests of the many and varied laws, programs, and policies of the United States is a critical role of the Department for maintaining civil law and order. Many of these civil lawsuits threaten or affect our national security, public safety, or social and moral codes.

Implement civil justice reform initiatives to resolve classes of claims for which traditional litigation has proven ineffective.

The Department must defend against thousands of plaintiff claims alleging Government neglect or wrongful conduct. Such suits usually involve massive discovery requirements, protracted trial schedules, arcane subject matter, and substantial stakes. When traditional litigation has proven ineffective, Congress has created specialized programs (e.g., National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act and the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act). When appropriate, the Department must continue to evaluate cases to determine whether they will benefit from use of ADR and, if necessary, engage in such processes to expedite case resolution and reduce costs.

Ensure the intent of Congress and the collective efforts of immigration agencies by defending immigration laws and policies, as well as class action suits or immigration judgments involving individuals.

The Department's heightened emphasis on immigration enforcement portends a rise in related immigration caseload. This litigation ranges from individual challenges to federal enforcement actions and class action suits directed against federal immigration agencies (e.g., denial of visas and passports, political asylum, and administrative judgements on alien removal).

Recover monies owed to the United States and victims as a result of fraud, loan default, and bankruptcy.

The Department protects the public fisc through a variety of affirmative litigation to fight fraud, loan default, and bankruptcy, focusing on matters involving widespread fraud and the potential for substantial recoveries. We investigate allegations brought forth by "whistle-blowers" and, where appropriate, pursue recoveries and civil penalties available under the False Claims Act. The Department emphasizes health care fraud enforcement, through collaborative efforts with other federal and state agencies to recover the billions of dollars lost from Medicare and other federally-funded programs. The Department also actively pursues collection of federal and non-federal restitution and criminal fines.

Enforce consumer protection laws by seeking civil and criminal penalties available under existing statutes.

The existence of the Internet has placed new demands on law enforcement regarding the identification, investigation, and pursuit of consumer fraud. In particular, the relatively new phenomenon of Internet pharmacies - - which often dispense powerful prescription drugs without valid prescriptions from a doctor - - pose a significant danger to consumers. To fight such trends, the Department will concentrate its activity on matters involving consumer law violations which pose the greatest potential threat to the public.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Civil Cases Involving the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. The Civil Division will continue to work closely with HHS and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in handling cases filed under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. Managers at the respective agencies coordinate matters of policy, budget, case processing, and strategy. At the trial level, medical staff at HHS assist the Department in developing medical evidence and providing expert witness support. In conjunction with the Office of Special Masters at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, HHS and the Department have striven to ensure just decisions in the thousands of cases filed since the inception of the program in 1988.

MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

The Department does not face any mission-critical management problems or challenges which would significantly hinder the Department from achieving this strategic goal.

 

Goal 5:  FAIRLY AND EFFECTIVELY ADMINISTER THE IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION LAWS OF              THE UNITED STATES

---

Responsibility for administering the Nation's immigration laws primarily rests with the Department's Immigration and Naturalization Service. INS deters, apprehends, and removes persons who violate our immigration laws. It works with the U.S. Attorneys to investigate and prosecute violators of immigration statutes, including purveyors of fraudulent documents. At the same time, INS provides an array of services and benefits to those who legally enter and reside in the United States. These services range from providing employment authorization to processing applications for citizenship ("naturalization"). The Civil Division defends immigration laws and policies, as well as class action law suits or immigration judgments involving individuals. A separate component organization within the Department, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, provides for the independent administrative adjudication of immigration cases.

Strategic Objective 5.1 ENFORCEMENT - - Secure America's borders, especially to reduce the incidence of alien smuggling.

Sovereignty presumes the right of all nation-states to defend their borders and regulate the people and commerce that cross them. Increasing sophistication of alien smuggling and the threat of international terrorism require a comprehensive, coordinated approach that begins beyond U.S. borders and follows through to the interior of the United States. It also requires the flexibility to tailor an enforcement response to the unique situations of each border area. To be truly effective, aggressive enforcement calls for a careful balance between control and compassion and an ongoing commitment to personal and community safety.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Prevent and deter illegal entry by phased implementation of a comprehensive border enforcement strategy that concentrates resources to control corridors of illegal entry.

This strategy extends the multiyear effort initiated in 1994 to strengthen enforcement of the Nation's immigration laws and to disrupt the traditional illegal immigration corridors along the Nation's southwest border. Under the strategy, new personnel, backed with equipment and infrastructure improvements, are deployed in targeted areas, starting with the most vulnerable areas. INS will continue to tailor enforcement approaches to the unique situations of each border area, including the northern border.

Pursue border safety initiatives that create a safe border environment.

Seeking to avoid detection, smugglers often lead migrants to dangerous terrain, where they may become lost or are abandoned. In cooperation with the Government of Mexico and state and local officials in border communities, INS will continue border safety initiatives aimed at educating migrants about the dangers associated with illegal crossings and assisting those who do not heed these warnings.

Strengthen the capabilities of host and transit countries to combat illegal migration and prevent and deter illegal immigration at the source.

In keeping with the international crime control strategy of the U.S. Government announced in May 1998, INS will build its first line of defense beyond U.S. borders. There it will work with other governments to prevent illegal entry by identifying and intercepting mala fide travelers and migrants before they enter the United States. The strategy includes assisting with offshore prosecutions and providing assistance to foreign governments in prosecuting cases within their own judicial systems.

Enhance and maintain an effective intelligence capability through coordination with other agencies and integration of INS worldwide intelligence resources.

Recognizing that the first line of defense is beyond the borders of the U.S., advance intelligence information on criminal activities planned abroad is critical to the accomplishment of this objective. INS will build upon the intelligence efforts of other U.S. Government agencies as well as international agencies and organizations in order to obtain the intelligence information it needs to protect our borders. Such intelligence will allow INS to make more informed decisions on where and when to concentrate resources. To this end, INS will pursue partnerships with these agencies and organizations.

To meet the increasing sophistication of alien smuggling organizations, alien smuggling investigations are now much more complex and require greater funding. Congress has provided additional investigative tools, including wiretap and expanded forfeiture authority, as well as the authority to apply racketeering and money laundering statutes to Service investigations. Law enforcement strategies and investigations have also become much more international in scope, often requiring coordination between U.S. law enforcement organizations and those of other governments.

INS' anti-smuggling program will continue to disrupt and dismantle major alien smuggling organizations at source and transit countries, the borders, and the interior of the United States in support of the National Anti-Smuggling Strategy. The Service will continue to enhance its Interior Enforcement Strategy, Border Safety Initiative, the Intelligence and International Programs, and operational methods to improve the effectiveness of its anti-smuggling program. INS will continue the use of statutory authorities, and traditional and non-traditional investigative techniques, including the use of wire intercepts, asset forfeiture, and the creation of business proprietaries.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Investigations. INS conducts international investigations to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal organizations that facilitate illegal migration. INS' anti-smuggling strategies are coordinated with the FBI, with DOJ's Alien Smuggling Task Force, the U.S. Coast Guard, the State Department, and agencies in the U.S. intelligence community.

Operational Alliances. In accomplishing its border management mission, the INS has relationships with numerous federal, state, local, and international law enforcement agencies whose operational initiatives intersect with its own. Such initiatives include a memorandum of understanding with DEA, particularly with respect to a delegation of legal authority to enforce drug laws under Title 21. A similar agreement is in place with the United States Customs Service where cross-designated authority is provided to both INS and USCS officers to enforce their respective laws.

The INS also is involved with a number of federal, state, and local joint-agency task forces with missions such as antiterrorism, drug interdiction, alien smuggling, fraud, and other illegal activities. On the international front, the INS coordinates its border enforcement efforts with its land neighbors to both the north and south through such special programs as Operation Alliance with Mexico and Project Northstar with Canada.

Information Sharing. INS agents in offices worldwide work closely with the Department of State, the USCS, the USCG, the DEA, and the FBI, as well as with foreign governments, in order to exchange information with their foreign immigration counterparts, and to better identify and disrupt organized alien smuggling activities.

Maritime Smuggling. INS personnel support the maritime interdiction activities of the USCG by providing investigatory assistance and conducting asylum interviews. Maritime interdictions reduce the chances that illegal immigrants will successfully enter the United States. Moreover, interdiction and a quick repatriation by the USCG saves detention and processing costs and helps deter future attempts.

Strategic Objective 5.2 CRIMINAL ALIENS - - Promote public safety by combating immigration-related crimes and removing individuals, especially criminals, who are unlawfully present in the United States.

Interior enforcement complements the global and border components of the INS enforcement strategy. INS' interior enforcement strategy concentrates resources on investigations of cases having the broadest impact on criminal networks and infrastructure. This strategy also emphasizes coordination among the various INS enforcement functions and closer ties with other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Identify and expeditiously remove criminal aliens and develop approaches to minimize recidivism.

By identifying and removing aliens who commit crimes in our country, INS contributes to an increased quality of life in our communities. Deporting incarcerated criminal aliens reduces pressure on over-taxed correctional facilities and lowers the costs to local communities. Through the use of the Institutional Removal Program, INS will identify and remove criminal aliens who are in the criminal justice system, concentrating resources on high volume areas in order to achieve the greatest impact. INS will work with the U.S. Attorneys to prosecute criminal aliens who illegally re-enter the U.S., and will expand its use of the IDENT fingerprint system and the INS Law Enforcement Support Center to identify, apprehend, and deport repeat offenders. INS, together with the Department of State, is working with foreign nations to improve the process for issuance of travel documents for deportees. Streamlining this process should reduce detention times and increase removal effectiveness.

Support global and border enforcement efforts to intercept illegal immigration-related activities before they occur.

In keeping with the international crime control strategy announced by the U.S. Government in May 1998, INS will coordinate its enforcement activities, creating a seamless web of immigration law enforcement beginning overseas in source and transit countries and continuing inside the United States. As part of the strategy, INS will teach foreign officials and airline personnel to identify fraudulent documents at departure airports. As this program fully develops, it is expected to reduce the incidence of fraudulent documents at air ports of entry, as well as the demand for detention and deportation here in the U.S. The strategy involves such initiatives as building partnerships with other U.S. and international agencies and organizations to coordinate intelligence information and investigations; assisting with offshore prosecutions; and working with other governments to reduce recidivism by monitoring and controlling foreign travel of deported aliens.

Respond to community reports and complaints about the negative consequences of illegal immigration and build partnerships to help address these concerns.

INS will continue to respond to stakeholder concerns in the communities it serves. This includes building partnerships with other federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations to prevent crimes involving illegal aliens. In addition, INS will continue to maintain a law enforcement presence in every state, utilize Quick Response Teams to diminish the impact of criminal alien and smuggling activity on local law enforcement, and contribute to joint investigations and task forces with other agencies. INS will also use input from the offices of the U.S. Attorneys, local government and law enforcement officials, community leaders, and advocacy groups to develop local threat assessments and action plans to address local problems. Finally, INS will maintain a continuous dialogue with communities to evaluate the effects of its enforcement actions.

Minimize immigration benefit fraud and other document abuse.

In order to maintain the integrity of the legal immigration system, INS will employ an aggressive investigation and prosecution strategy against benefit fraud and document abuse. Priority will be given to investigating and prosecuting complex fraud schemes and other cases having the broadest impact on criminal networks and the infrastructure supporting benefit fraud and document abuse. In addition, INS will take advantage of new technology and methodologies, such as data mining and biometric identification, to identify criminal fraud schemes.

Block and remove employers' access to undocumented workers and help reduce worker exploitation.

In order to deter unauthorized employment, INS will pursue a comprehensive approach that includes building relationships with employers, openly conducting audits and surveys, inviting employer cooperation, and working with employers after unauthorized workers are removed to ensure continued compliance with immigration laws. Based on institutional experience and current data, INS will also identify and target notorious and egregious violators. In addition, INS will concentrate on removing aliens with criminal convictions, many of whom hold jobs that could be held by citizens or legal residents.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Removals. To facilitate removals and repatriations, INS works in conjunction with BOP, USMS, state and local law enforcement, and foreign governments.

Investigations. INS conducts international investigations to prevent, identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal organizations that facilitate illegal migration. In addition, INS works with the U.S. Attorneys to prepare cases and receives information on work-site enforcement activities from the Department of Labor.

Strategic Objective 5.3 SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC - - Provide timely and consistent services and achieve a substantial reduction in the benefits processing backlog.

The mission of the Immigration Services Program is to provide accurate and timely information and adjudicate immigration benefit applications for customers in a professional and courteous manner. INS sees applicants and petitioners through the process, beginning at the point of initial contact when an application or petition is filed. This contact continues to the point of decision, the production of a final document or oath ceremony, and concludes with the retirement of case records. These services include immigrant and nonimmigrant sponsorship, adjustment of status, work authorization and other permits, naturalization, and refugees and asylum.

INS has experienced substantial increases in applications for benefits since the early 1990s. The Service received six million applications for immigration benefits, including naturalization, in 2000, nearly 35 percent more than it received in 1993. To succeed at its work, INS must ensure that correct decisions are made - - that people who are eligible for benefits receive them and those who are ineligible are denied. To ensure that the right decisions are made, INS must ensure that the right processes are in place and documented and that INS employees adhere to these processes. In addition, before, during, and after the adjudication process, INS must ensure that excellent customer service is provided. Timely, consistent, professional, and courteous treatment are service priorities that are important to all INS customers, including benefit applicants, the community-based organizations who represent them, and businesses.

INS is committed to building and maintaining an immigration services program that ensures integrity, provides services accurately and in a timely manner, and emphasizes a culture of respect. INS will continue to enhance services provided, including improvements to automated systems supporting benefit application processing, fingerprint processing, telephone and internet-based information services, and online filing of applications.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Reduce Benefits Backlog.

In FY 2002, INS will begin a backlog reduction strategy to reduce processing times on benefits applications to 6 months. The universal 6-month processing standard for all immigration applications within 5 years is one of the Administration's highest priorities. INS' backlog reduction strategy will include a phased implementation plan, comprehensive workload evaluation, and staffing model to meet the Administration's 5-year goal for all applications. The implementation plan will address staffing requirements for every immigration benefit application in every district and service center for three workload categories: receipts, backlog, and Legal Immigration Family Equity (LIFE) Act.

Establish quality assurance, timeliness, and customer service standards for all immigration benefits processing, and ensure that mechanisms are in place to meet these standards.

INS stakeholders indicate that the integrity of benefits adjudication processes, including naturalization, is particularly important, especially with regard to the outcome of these processes. Nearly all INS stakeholders also report that the speed with which INS processes cases is a high priority, as is the courtesy and respect INS displays to applicants as they navigate benefits processes. This includes cultural sensitivity on the part of INS employees. To meet the needs of its stakeholders and customers, INS will create standards and mechanisms by which to meet those standards in the areas of processing quality, timeliness, and customer service.

Maintain fair and timely refugee and asylum case processing that denies meritless claims quickly without discouraging legitimate seekers of refuge.

Due to the urgency of many refugee and asylum cases, it is imperative that INS maintain a system by which cases can be processed quickly and fairly. However, the process must also preserve the integrity of the refugee and asylum programs by ensuring that only those who are eligible for such protection receive it. To this end, INS will build on the successful reform of the asylum system implemented in 1995.

Complete reengineering of the naturalization process, redesign processes for immigrant and non-immigrant applications processing, and institute documented standard operating procedures nationwide.

In an effort begun in 1997, INS reengineered the naturalization process to enhance its integrity and to improve the way it delivered services to the customer. INS will document and monitor compliance with this new process. It will also apply lessons learned from the naturalization reengineering effort to the redesign of other benefits processes in order to improve service delivery and customer satisfaction for those benefits. To ensure consistent application of the redesigned procedures on a nationwide basis, the Service will document the new processes and monitor compliance with them.

Introduce electronic filing for applications processes.

Consistent with stakeholders' expressed interest in timely and user-friendly processing, the INS will develop an electronic filing capability. This will enable processing to be conducted more quickly, at a lower cost and with fewer errors.

Create a culture of customer service as an integral, permanent component of INS benefits application processing.

Customer service is one of the highest priorities of INS customers and stakeholders. INS will continue to move toward creating an organizational culture that supports customer service by providing employees with guidelines, training, and adequate tools and resources to provide high quality service to customers.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Fingerprint Screening. INS will continue coordination with the FBI on fingerprint screening to ensure that persons applying for benefits will be promptly checked for the existence of records maintained by the FBI.

Data Sharing. INS coordinates with the Department of State in a data-sharing initiative that permits the electronic sharing of traveler visa and application information, thereby improving the issuance process and facilitating the identification of fraudulent visas.

Strategic Objective 5.4 ORGANIZATION and INFRASTRUCTURE - - Improve operational efficiency and organizational effectiveness of the INS workforce.

The INS experienced unprecedented growth and change during fiscal years 1994-2001. These changes included dramatic increases in workload, a doubling of the agency's budget, a 60 percent increase in the size of the workforce, and major reforms of immigration law. As a result, INS now faces unique and pressing infrastructure needs. For example, the growth in the size of the workforce and the budget has been targeted at very specific areas and, over time, these changes have resulted in backlogs, shortfalls, imbalances, and inconsistencies in the infrastructure that supports the INS workforce. In addition, these changes have created a need to redefine the agency's corporate culture, to ensure that all employees share a common vision of the INS mission, values, and goals. This strategic objective addresses these organization and infrastructure needs.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Restructure INS.

INS proposes to address systemic problems related to its dual missions of service and enforcement by creating two separate chains of command and accountability, reporting to a single policy leader. INS' restructuring plan will streamline the organization to emphasize front-line enforcement and service delivery functions. Restructuring is one of the Administration's top priorities. INS will implement restructuring in a phased manner, beginning in FY 2002, with the realignment of headquarters and the development of detailed plans for separating service and enforcement functions at the field level, including reducing the number of management layers and clarifying reporting relationships. The next phase, the beginning of field implementation of the plan, will occur in FY 2003. Completion of the restructuring is targeted for FY 2005.

Institutionalize New Processes and Systems.

Simultaneous with restructuring plans, INS will review and improve its management and infrastructure, primarily by institutionalizing new processes and systems put into place in FY 2001 and FY 2002. Material in the Administrative and Field Manuals will be updated and consolidated to ensure consistency of management and operations across the Service. Resources for facilities and vehicles will continue to be focused on the most serious problem areas in terms of health, safety, and security of both INS employees and the public, while phased construction of facilities begun in prior years will continue.

Modernize Financial and Information Technology Resources.

Management of both financial and information technology resources will also be improved. Consolidation of procedures for handling accounts payable under a modern, integrated financial system is expected to reduce erroneous, improper, and late payments, while new approaches to bond management will reduce the number of outstanding bonds. In addition, INS will pursue a long-term strategy for financial management in collaboration with the Department of Justice.

Complete the INS Enterprise Architecture Plan (EAP).

Expedited development of the EAP will allow the Service to acquire the necessary technological tools to capitalize on information/intelligence from INS inspectors, Border Patrol agents, and investigators. Completion of the plan will also allow the Service to move forward with an automated arrival/departure system and to address the agency's dual missions of border management and enforcement. Up-to-date technology is the only answer to adequately determine the admissibility of the more than 600 million travelers a year that arrive at U.S. Ports of Entry.

Strategic Objective 5.5 QUALITY OF DATA - - Provide accurate, easy-to-use, readily accessible, and up-to-date information to meet planning and operational needs.

The Immigration and Nationality Act charges the Commissioner of INS with collecting immigration information and disseminating it to Congress and the public. Accurate, easy-to-use, readily accessible, and up-to-date information is a priority of a significant number of INS stakeholders, including benefits applicants, other government agencies, and businesses. The demand for good information is also reflected in the large volume of visitors at INS information counters, the increasing demand placed on INS' telephone center, and the growing use of INS' web site. But maintaining and providing good information does more than improve customer service; it also facilitates INS business processes. Well-informed customers make case processing easier, quicker, and often cheaper.

In addition, data serves as the raw material that allows INS to make informed policy decisions, identify opportunities for improvement, and demonstrate success. Information on the sizes and locations of various alien populations, for example, allows INS to plan effectively for the impacts of benefits offered through new legislation. Key information collected in case-tracking systems identifies sources of bottlenecks, assisting in reducing processing times. Finally, current and accurate data provides Congress and the public with the information needed to gauge the degree of success of INS initiatives.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Expand the Use of Information Technology.

INS will continue to increase the availability of reliable information and expand access to this information. Where applicable, INS will expand the use of electronic means to deliver services and benefits and to gather and exchange information. Much of this work will be done in accordance with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act. INS is also completing its Enterprise Architecture Plan, which will govern management of information and technology. Primary benefits of the Enterprise Architecture will be improved quality of data and broader availability of information.

Institute National Case Management.

Specific initiatives include record centralization and backlog reduction for the Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act (FOIA/PA) program. INS will continue to manage the surge in requests and reduce the response time for its customers through national case management and alternative means of addressing requests for particular types of information, such as genealogy and case discovery.

Increase Use of Electronic Benefit Processing.

INS has committed to increasing the number of benefit application forms online starting in FY 2002. The Service will maintain public use forms that are available online, expand the types of applications that can be filed online, and explore opportunities for expanded electronic access to alien status verification by employers. Additionally, in support of benefit processing, INS now provides fee receipts electronically through the Bank One operation for the LIFE Act. INS is centralizing its alien file records to improve access to critical information and will establish a fee-for-service genealogy unit to reduce some of the burden of FOIA requests.

Strategic Objective 5.6 BORDER FACILITATION - - Improve the efficiency of the inspections process for lawful entry of persons and goods.

In an era of growing interdependence of economies and ideas, border integrity involves a proper balance between controlling movement and facilitating exchange. Because the vast majority of individuals who enter the country do so legally, it is incumbent upon INS continuously to seek improvements in its facilitation function. In addition, our expanding global trade obligations require innovative ways to facilitate the movement of international personnel across the Nation's borders without compromising border security.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Promote the expeditious movement of travelers by conducting critical enforcement functions prior to the primary inspection process.

Using techniques such as pre-enrollment programs or pre-arrival passenger information review, INS will expand the use of prescreening for passenger and vehicle traffic at both land and airport venues. This is critical to the improvement of traveler service at land borders and international airports, and enhances our ability to identify and prevent criminal and other illegal aliens from entering the United States.

Maximize the use of techniques and technologies that promote and expedite lawful entry and exit, including cooperative strategies with local authorities, the travel industry, and foreign governments.

INS will continue to develop and test automation and other technologies that facilitate lawful traffic and commerce as well as enhance our ability to identify and prevent criminal and other inadmissible aliens from entering the United States.

Develop, improve, and integrate alternative inspection processes.

INS has successfully implemented alternatives to traditional inspection processes and will continue to improve these processes and integrate them at ports-of-entry (POEs). These automated processes will contribute to increased efficiency and shorter wait times at the borders and POEs.

Work cooperatively with other federal agencies at POEs to create a secure and seamless federal inspection process.

INS shares responsibility for inspecting foreign travelers at the borders with other federal agencies, including the Department of State, the USCS, and the Department of Agriculture. INS will continue to develop partnerships with these agencies to improve traveler service and enhance enforcement. This will include approaches such as the DataShare Initiative with the Department of State which improves the identification of fraudulent visas and enhances the visa issuance process.

Establish traveler service standards and ensure mechanisms are in place to meet these standards.

First-class customer service requires that travelers are processed within acceptable time frames and in a courteous and professional manner. To this end, INS will develop standards for timely service and treatment of travelers at the borders and ports-of-entry, as well as mechanisms to ensure that those standards are met. INS will work with its partners in the travel industry to identify strategies to ensure that appropriate resources are available to support their common interests in meeting these standards.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Data Sharing. At land POEs, INS collects data on processing times and shares the information with the USCS. At air POEs, USCS and INS receive passenger data from the Advance Passenger Information System, which allows the agencies to perform enforcement checks and identify high-risk passengers before they arrive in the United States.

SENTRI and INSPASS. INS coordinates with the USCS and the General Services Administration on port modifications and construction necessary for the Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI) system. INS also coordinates with the Government of Mexico on construction of access roads for SENTRI. In addition, INS works with local airport authorities to open enrollment centers and kiosks for the INS Passenger Accelerated Service System (INSPASS).

Strategic Objective 5.7 ADJUDICATION - - Adjudicate all immigration cases promptly and impartially in accordance with due process.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) provides for the review and adjudication of immigration cases. EOIR's mission is to provide a uniform and timely interpretation and application of immigration law. Although EOIR is an independent agency, its workload is largely determined by the activities and initiatives undertaken by the INS. Similarly, EOIR's ability to process cases in a timely fashion directly affects INS goals to remove criminal or inadmissible aliens expeditiously and to efficiently use limited detention space.

Strategy to Achieve the Objective

Adjudicate priority cases within specified time frames.

EOIR has identified three adjudication priorities and set specific processing time frames for each. The first priority is the adjudication of alien inmates incarcerated in federal, state, and local institutions as a result of convictions for criminal offenses. The aim is to adjudicate these cases prior to the inmate's release so that those found by EOIR to be removable may be removed quickly from the United States by the INS. The second priority is the adjudication of expedited asylum cases within 180 days. The third priority is the adjudication of cases involving detained aliens within 30 days.

MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Despite significant progress, the Department continues to face major challenges in the management of its immigration programs. Many of the objectives and strategies described above are aimed at meeting these challenges by focusing on a strong customer-orientation, the provision of reliable and timely data, reengineered business processes, and infrastructure improvements.

INS is heavily dependent on information technology and significant resources have been devoted to the development and deployment of new systems. The Service has had difficulty, however, in managing its automation programs effectively. To help remedy this situation, INS has established an Information Technology Investment Review Board to oversee the selection, control, and evaluation of information technology investments; it has also instituted related improvements. Nevertheless, information technology management within INS remains a management challenge closely monitored by the Department.

INS' rapid growth and increased responsibilities have placed greater demands on its information systems. Over time, INS, like other federal agencies, developed a number of stovepipe data base systems to meet specific, rather than common, needs. Those systems eventually failed to keep up with the demand largely because they were never designed to interface with other systems, internal or external. To address this problem, the Department and OMB tasked INS to develop an Enterprise Architecture Plan for its information systems. Such a plan will ensure timely access to needed data; a useful format for data to be easily interpreted, accurate, and consistent throughout every department; responsiveness to rapidly changing business conditions; and data sharing across the enterprise.. INS is in the process of improving its financial management systems. Despite progress in this area, INS continues to experience problems in meeting federal accounting standards. To correct these problems, INS has begun implementing new accounting systems and procedures. This issue, too, is being carefully monitored by the Department.

Another management challenge is in the area of identifying and removing persons who are in the United States illegally, including the monitoring of alien overstays. In addition, INS is evaluating existing systems, in an attempt to successfully match arrival records with departure records of the traveling public.

 

Goal 6:  PROTECT AMERICAN SOCIETY BY PROVIDING FOR THE SAFE, SECURE, AND HUMANE              CONFINEMENT OF PERSONS IN FEDERAL CUSTODY

---

This strategic goal is directly related to the Department's law enforcement mission of controlling crime and seeking just punishment of those guilty of unlawful behavior. It encompasses two separate but related areas of responsibility: detention and incarceration. Detention is the temporary confinement of individuals, including those awaiting trial, sentencing, or designation to a penal institution where sentence will be served; it also includes the temporary confinement of aliens pending immigration proceedings, including removal from the country. Incarceration, on the other hand, is the imprisonment of individuals convicted and sentenced for federal crimes. Detention is a responsibility shared by the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Incarceration is the responsibility of the Bureau of Prisons.

Detention and incarceration functions account for approximately one-fourth of the Department's budget. More aggressive enforcement, sterner sentencing guidelines, and the growing reach of federal criminal law have dramatically increased the demands on the Department's detention and prison systems in recent years. Our physical capacity to detain or imprison offenders simply has not kept pace with these and other changes. As a result, the challenge facing the Department over the next 5 years is meeting this rising demand for detention and prison space in a way that is cost effective and does not jeopardize safety and security.

Strategic Objective 6.1 DETENTION - - Provide for the safe, secure, and humane confinement of detained persons awaiting trial, sentencing, or immigration proceedings.

The Department of Justice is responsible for detaining persons charged with violating federal criminal statutes or immigration laws, provided they have not been released on bond or personal recognizance pending disposition of their cases. The USMS houses and maintains pre-sentenced detainees in secure facilities from the time they are initially brought into federal custody until they are acquitted, arrive at a designated BOP facility to serve a sentence, or are ordered released. INS detains aliens who enter the United States illegally or violate other immigration laws. BOP assists the USMS and INS by housing some pre-sentenced federal detainees and alien detainees in specified BOP facilities.

The Department has limited control over the number of detainees in its custody at any given time, as this number is, for the most part, dictated by prosecutorial and law enforcement initiatives, as well as by judicial decisions. As the number of detainees increases, so do detention and incarceration costs. Without proper advanced planning and coordination within the Department, detention costs will spiral out of control, and will exceed the Department's ability to effectively manage its resources. To prevent this, the Department has formed the Detention Planning Committee (DPC), comprising representatives from the key components, led by the Deputy Attorney General.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Acquire needed capacity through a multipronged approach that includes state and local agreements, contracts with private vendors, construction and operation of federal detention facilities, and the use of alternatives to detention.

The Department acquires detention beds through reimbursable agreements with state and local governments for the use of their jail space, through contracts with private vendors, and through the construction and operation of federally managed and maintained detention facilities. DOJ also encourages state and local governments to provide bedspace for federal use by awarding funds under the Cooperative Agreement Program for jail modifications and renovations. Although the USMS, INS, and BOP all use state and local jails to an extent, the USMS traditionally has been the primary user of state and local detention space.

In recent years, the ability of the Department to rely on state and local facilities to meet its detention needs has diminished, as these facilities are increasingly used for non-federal detention requirements. With available space diminishing and with prohibitive costs for federal construction in every locale where space is needed, the Department has been facing a severe challenge. Responding to the challenge, the USMS and INS increasingly have turned to the private sector. For example, in fiscal year 1994, the USMS housed one percent of its population in privately owned or operated facilities; in fiscal year 2000, that rate rose to 15 percent.

Use of private detention facilities, however, raises its own set of issues and challenges. While there are numerous advantages to the use of private contracts (e.g., reduced start-up/ construction time, increased facility locations, etc.), there are also many disadvantages, such as possible increased housing costs, liability issues, and security concerns. There is also concern about the long-term commercial viability of these privately owned and operated facilities. In the coming years, the Department will examine the role of private sector contractors in the housing and supervision of federal criminal detainees. At the same time, the INS will seek alternatives to detention for non-criminal aliens in order to maintain a more humane detention program and to increase the available bedspace for aliens whose circumstances require their confinement.

Improve management of detention resources through more accurate forecasting of detention needs, better coordination, strengthened oversight, and other means.

The USMS, INS, and BOP all rely on accurate population forecasting to project and plan for future resource and bedspace needs. Both the USMS and INS currently rely on a combination of historical data and information obtained from the field to forecast their populations. They, like the Executive Office for the U.S. Attorneys, have contracted with a private vendor to develop statistical models that incorporate various workload indicators in an effort to develop sounder statistical projections. The Department will build on these efforts to develop a comprehensive model that can project total Department needs based on any given initiative or policy change. Such a model would project the number of INS and USMS detention beds required, as well as the number of deputy U.S. marshals and INS officers needed to manage the projected population. Eventually, these models would provide projections for sentenced prisoners in BOP custody.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Through the Working Group of the DPC, the Department maintains close contact with the Pretrial Services Division of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC). The Working Group meetings provide a forum for Justice detention components to address issues involving the U.S. Courts with a representative from Pretrial Services, who serves on the Working Group. As an example, at one of the group's meetings, the USMS raised an issue concerning the timeliness of prisoner designations and their impact on the Federal Prisoner Detention appropriation. As a result, AOUSC published an article in its biweekly newsletter emphasizing to district courts around the country the importance of timely processing of presentence reports required for designation. Additionally, the USMS and AOUSC have a reimbursable agreement in place in which the USMS provides reimbursement to the judiciary in selected districts for the use of alternatives to confinement.

Strategic Objective 6.2 PRISON CAPACITY - - Ensure that sufficient and cost effective prison capacity exists so that violent and other serious criminal offenders are imprisoned to the fullest extent of the law.

BOP has experienced unprecedented growth during the past 10 years. As of August 16, 2001, there were 155,836 inmates in BOP custody, an increase of nearly 11,000 since September 30, 2000. Most of these inmates were confined in one of the 100 BOP-operated facilities located around the country. Nearly 26,000 were assigned to privately managed institutions, state and local facilities through Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs), community corrections centers, or home confinement. At the end of fiscal year 2000, the crowding rate in the Federal Prison System was 32 percent. As of August 16, 2001, it was 33 percent. The BOP projects that by 2006 the total inmate population will exceed 198,000.

As noted earlier, this rapid growth is a result of changes occurring in other parts of the criminal justice system, including aggressive law enforcement policies and the imposition of lengthier sentences. BOP strives to accommodate the increasing population in the most cost effective manner, following a policy of adding capacity through the utilization of contract facilities (where the inmate's security level is appropriate), expansion of existing facilities, acquisition and conversion of military and other properties to prison use, privately-managed prisons, and alternative confinement. The BOP aims to protect the community, keep institutional crowding at manageable proportions, and ensure that inmates serve their sentences in a safe, secure, and humane environment.

Strategy to Achieve the Objective

Acquire additional capacity through a multipronged approach of new construction, cooperative arrangements with other units of government, alternatives to traditional confinement where appropriate, and contracts with private providers of correctional services.

BOP will continue the careful use of secure alternatives to traditional incarceration for nonviolent offenders, including community corrections centers and home confinement. BOP also continues to contract for privatized low security bedspace. As of August 2001, a total of 7,844 BOP inmates was confined in privately managed prisons. BOP also continues to use IGAs, and currently has 9,327 beds available for inmates through this means.

New construction is a key part of the Department's strategy for meeting its bedspace needs. BOP plans to activate two new facilities which will be fully operational in fiscal year 2002, adding 2,240 beds to rated capacity. Four new facilities will be completed and activated in fiscal years 2002-2003, adding 4,416 beds. BOP has also awarded contracts to begin design and construction of seven new facilities which are expected to begin activation by the end of fiscal year 2004; these would add 8,192 beds. In addition, BOP is continuing or beginning environmental review, design, or design-build activities for 13 new facilities which are expected to add 14,720 beds in fiscal years 2004-2007. Finally, BOP will continue to consider property transfers, joint-use contracts, and other cooperative arrangements to maximize prison capacity.

Key Crosscutting Programs

BOP works cooperatively with the private sector and state and local governments to establish and maintain adequate capacity to detain persons in federal custody in cost effective, safe, secure, and humane facilities. BOP utilizes IGAs with state and local governments to obtain additional bedspace.

Strategic Objective 6.3 PRISON OPERATIONS - - Maintain and operate the Federal Prison System in a safe, secure, humane, and efficient manner.

Because the BOP incarcerates some of the most dangerous felons in the country, it is especially critical that its facilities be operated with attention to safety and security. In addition, because detention and incarceration together now account for more than one-fourth of the Department's budget, it is critical that every effort be made to manage and operate the system in as cost effective and efficient manner as possible.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Manage BOP operations efficiently.

BOP will take steps to improve its effective use of resources and efficient delivery of services by placing inmates in the least restrictive correctional environment commensurate with their custody and security needs.

Ensure that BOP facilities comply with the standards of the American Correctional Association and all applicable environmental, health, and safety codes and regulations.

BOP will prepare all activated facilities for accreditation with the American Correctional Association (ACA). ACA is an independent accrediting authority for correctional agencies who wish to validate that their correctional management is sound and effective. This program offers the opportunity to evaluate programs and facilities, remedy deficiencies, and upgrade the quality of programs and services. Once accredited, all facilities submit annual statements of continued compliance. At ACA's discretion, a monitoring visit may be conducted during the initial 3-year accreditation period to ensure continued compliance with standards.

The BOP also maintains a modernization and repair program to ensure that its facilities, many of which are over 50 years old, are safe and secure. Included in this program are "life safety" projects to meet National Fire Code standards. These projects are given the highest priority.

Ensure safety and security.

A safe and secure institutional environment for inmates and staff is of fundamental importance. BOP assigns inmates to institutions according to their security and custody needs, ensures that correctional staff are properly trained and equipped, and works to reduce violence and the introduction of drugs in prison facilities. In addition, the BOP conducts routine mock emergency exercises with the FBI. It works closely with both the FBI and the USMS when an escape or emergency situation exists.

Key Crosscutting Programs

BOP must work cooperatively with DOJ agencies, U.S. Courts, U.S. Military, other state and local law enforcement, and numerous private and not-for-profit organizations to successfully carry out its mission.

Strategic Objective 6.4 INMATE SERVICES - - Provide services and programs to facilitate inmates' successful reintegration into society, consistent with community expectations and standards.

BOP provides inmates with basic services (such as clothing, food, and access to health care) and an array of educational, vocational, leisure time, religious, and other programs. However, since a majority of inmates will return to the community at some point, it is important to provide the means to increase their chances for successfully re-entering society as law-abiding and productive citizens. Most inmates lack education and job skills. Many have a history of drug dependency. Research has shown that inmates who complete at least one educational course or a residential drug treatment program and those who maintain employment while incarcerated are less likely to recidivate. As a result, providing residential drug treatment and work and education programs is a high priority.

A recent evaluation of BOP's residential drug treatment program by the National Institute of Drug Abuse confirmed that inmates who completed this program had lower recidivism rates and lower rates of returning to drug usage. In addition, an internal BOP study, the Post Release Employment Project, confirmed that inmates who are enrolled in education and work programs are less likely to recidivate. As of fiscal year 2000, Federal Prison Industries (trade name UNICOR) provided job skills training and employment for more than 21,000 inmates serving sentences in BOP.

Strategies to Meet the Objective

Provide work and education programs.

BOP requires inmates without a high school diploma or General Education Development (GED) credential (over 40 percent of the total population) to enroll in a literacy program. The implementation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (VCCLEA) and the Prison Litigation Reform Act mandates that inmates with needs must participate and make satisfactory progress in literacy in order to vest their good conduct time or be eligible to earn the full amount of good conduct time. These two acts have almost tripled the demand for literacy programs since their implementation. BOP also requires all medically fit inmates to work. It makes available a variety of occupational education programs designed to enhance job skills and increase the employability of offenders upon release. In addition, BOP is establishing a pilot multifaith based prerelease program.

Make available residential drug treatment programs for eligible inmates with drug problems.

Under the VCCLEA, BOP is required to provide residential drug treatment to all eligible inmates. The residential drug abuse program is designed for extended drug abuse treatment. It provides unit-based living with extensive assessment, treatment planning, and individual and group counseling. In addition, BOP provides drug abuse education and non-residential drug abuse counseling services.

Provide quality inmate health care services while controlling costs.

Medical services are provided by a variety of professional and para-professional health care personnel. If an inmate has a health condition which is beyond the professional capability of an institution's medical staff, the inmate is referred to an outside physician, a hospital in the community, or one of BOP's medical referral centers. Increasing numbers of federal inmates are requiring medical care, in part because of the general aging of the inmate population. Over the past 10 years, the focus has shifted from acute and sub-acute needs to chronic and long-term needs.

Key Crosscutting Programs

BOP actively recruits volunteers to assist with religious and other services, organizes community service projects, and holds mock job fairs through partnerships with community groups, public service organizations, and other agencies.

BOP also works closely with and monitors private sector drug treatment service providers to ensure inmates receive proper aftercare.

BOP contracts with the U.S. Public Health Service for qualified health care personnel. BOP partners with the Department of Veterans Affairs to utilize its laboratory testing contracts and prime vendor contract for pharmaceuticals.

MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

The shortage of detention space and prison crowding are both considered by the Department to be mission-critical management issues. The Department's approach to resolving these issues is set forth in Strategic Objectives 6.1 and 6.2, respectively.

 

Goal 7:  PROTECT THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY AND PROVIDE CRITICAL SUPPORT TO THE FEDERAL              JUSTICE SYSTEM TO ENSURE IT OPERATES EFFECTIVELY

---

The Department plays a key role in the administration of the federal justice system. We support the federal courts by protecting federal judges, witnesses, and other participants in federal court proceedings; providing courtroom security; making sure that persons in custody are escorted to and from proceedings in a safe and secure manner; and apprehending federal fugitives from justice. An especially important responsibility of the Department is meeting the needs of federal crime victims and witnesses. We place a high priority on treating victims and witnesses fairly, compassionately, and with respect. Finally, we also work to ensure the effective operation of the Nation's bankruptcy system.

Strategic Objective 7.1 PROTECTING THE JUDICIARY - - Ensure the integrity and the safe and secure operation of the federal judicial system by protecting judges, witnesses, and other participants in federal proceedings.

The federal judiciary system is a key pillar of the United States system of government, ensuring that laws are upheld fairly and that offenders receive just punishment for their crimes. The system cannot work without judges, witnesses, and other court participants who are fearless and unyielding to threats, intimidation, or harassment. The Department's aim is to ensure that no judge, witness, or other court participant is the victim of an assault stemming from his or her involvement in a federal court proceeding. Federal judicial proceedings must be open, secure, and free from obstruction, intimidation, or threat of violence. Security for federal judicial proceedings is provided by the Department through the United States Marshals Service; the FBI is responsible for investigating violence, threats, obstruction, or harassment against the federal judicial system and its participants.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Monitor, assess, and investigate threats made against judges, court personnel, witnesses, and victims to stop or deter potential violence.

Investigating potential threats of violence planned against court officials - - judges, prosecutors, victims, witnesses, court support staff - - is a critical aspect of providing security. Because of such threats, security must sometimes be provided both inside and outside the courtroom. In 2000, there were 683 inappropriate communications, which included threats and verbal assaults against judges and other members of the court family. The USMS, with the help of other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, must carefully assess each potential threat based on the best intelligence available and respond in a timely and appropriate way. In addition, the USMS manages a federal witness protection program that provides for the long-term protection of selected witnesses and their family members.

The FBI utilizes various intelligence sources to report potential or actual threats against the federal judiciary. These sources include other law enforcement agencies, joint terrorism task forces, violent crime task forces, informants, and cooperating witnesses. The Bureau has immediate notification procedures to provide timely notice of threats; it also collaborates with U.S. Attorneys Offices to determine the prosecution potential of each threat identified.

Meet court security standards.

In 1999, the USMS conducted a security requirements survey of prisoner movement space in federal courthouse facilities in the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The survey evaluated each facility against USMS security specifications and requirements. Survey results indicated that 94 percent of the federal courthouse facilities did not meet minimum security standards. As a key means to improve security of these facilities, USMS continues to renovate U.S. courthouses and court-occupied space to bring them up to security standards.

At the same time, the USMS works to ensure that court proceedings are adequately staffed. The desired standard for courtroom security is one more deputy U.S. marshal than the number of defendants in the courtroom. Unfortunately, due to growing prisoner populations throughout the country, the USMS has been unable to maintain this security standard. Along the southwest border in particular, large numbers of prisoners have dramatically reduced the ability of deputy marshals to produce defendants according to the desired security standard.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Memorandum of Understanding on Court Security. A Memorandum of Understanding established in December 1997 between the USMS and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) provides guidelines and procedures to implement the recommendations of the Attorney General's Task Force on Court Security. The MOU defines the USMS court security programs and expresses the terms and conditions under which funds appropriated to the judiciary will be transferred to the USMS from AOUSC for use in providing security to the federal courts.

MOU on Courthouse Security. Providing security in federal courtrooms requires coordination among several key federal agencies, each with different jurisdictional responsibilities. The General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Protective Service is responsible for perimeter security and preventing unwarranted entry into a U.S. courthouse facility. The USMS Judicial Security Systems staff is responsible for security of the interior spaces within a U.S. courthouse facility for which the Judiciary or AOUSC pays rent. The USMS Central Courthouse Management Group is responsible for security of all spaces for which the USMS pays rent, including all prisoner movement and detention areas. The physical unification of the specified security systems and devices usually occurs in the USMS command and control centers located in the USMS office within the U.S. courthouse. These agencies are mutually supportive of the mission to provide the proper level of security for a U.S. courthouse as defined in the MOU among the GSA, USMS, and AOUSC.

Strategic Objective 7.2 VICTIMS' RIGHTS - - Protect the rights of crime victims and assist them in moving through the processes of the federal justice system.

Victims play a central role in the federal criminal justice system. Their participation often makes the difference between a conviction and an acquittal. Yet being a victim can be an overwhelming, even traumatic, experience. Prior to recent federal and state legislation making improvements in how victims are treated, some felt revictimized by a criminal justice system insensitive to their needs.

The Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance set forth Department of Justice requirements and policies regarding the treatment of victims and witnesses. They recognize that federal criminal justice system personnel - - including investigators, prosecutors and correctional officers - - have a special responsibility to treat victims and witnesses of federal crimes fairly by enforcing their rights, properly including them in criminal justice system processes, and referring them to appropriate services. In order to ensure that victims are assisted through the entire process of the federal justice system, the Department of Justice employs victim-witness coordinators and victim specialists in its components.

Victim-witness coordinators in each of the 94 U.S. Attorneys' offices play a crucial role in increasing the participation and cooperation of victims and witnesses. They help implement the Attorney General Guidelines, ensure that those involved in working with victims and witnesses are properly trained, and help victims and witnesses from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, and ethnic groups understand their rights and their role as key participants in the federal criminal justice process.

Strategy to Achieve the Objective

Ensure that all federal law enforcement officers and prosecutors are trained in victim/witness responsibilities.

Law enforcement officers are the first contact most victims and witnesses have with the federal judicial system. Having law enforcement officers who are aware of victims' rights and the services that should be provided reinforces the Department's concern for victims and witnesses. The Department trains federal law enforcement officers and prosecutors in victim/witness responsibilities, as required by the Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance.

Ensure 100% compliance with the provisions set forth in the Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance.

The Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistanceset forth Department of Justice requirements and policies regarding the treatment of victims and witnesses. Among the directives outlined in the Guidelines are that the Government provide a separate waiting area for victims at court proceedings, intercede with victims' employers and creditors when requested, provide logistical assistance and information, attempt to consult with the victim about proposed plea negotiations, and protect victim privacy.

In addition, the Guidelines require that the prosecution provide notice of release or detention status, filing or dismissal of charges, schedules and changes to schedules, and terms of any negotiated pleas or trial verdict. Additionally, in certain types of cases, the prosecution must inform the victim of the right to be heard regarding the release of the accused and must notify a victim that a defendant may be tested for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Proper notification allows the victim or witness the opportunity to prepare to participate in the judicial process. The prosecutor's case is enhanced by having a witness available and prepared to testify. Notification also gives victims and witnesses the opportunity to make preparations for absences from their jobs, family, and other responsibilities. The Department is developing a National Victim Notification System that will include a call center where victims can use a telephone to dial a toll-free number and receive an automated response regarding the current status of their case. This system will play an important role in bridging any gap in information provided to victims and witnesses during the different stages of the judicial process.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Leadership assistance The Office for Victims of Crime in the Office of Justice Programs provides leadership and assistance in victim and witness matters to both Justice and non-Justice federal agencies, particularly the Departments of Treasury, State, Defense, and Interior.

Strategic Objective 7.3 DEFENDANTS AND FUGITIVES - - Ensure the appearance of criminal defendants for judicial proceedings or confinement through secure transportation, and ensure the apprehension of fugitives from justice.

The Department is responsible for enforcing federal warrants and apprehending fugitives from justice, including escaped federal prisoners; bail jumpers; parole, probation, and supervised release violators; and other fugitives wanted because of complaints or indictments. Additionally, the Department is responsible for the location and apprehension of fugitives wanted by agencies without power of arrest, and fugitives wanted by foreign countries and believed to be in the United States.

The apprehension of fugitives ensures the effective operation of the judicial system, reduces crime, and improves public safety. Additionally, the aggressive pursuit of fugitives serves as a deterrent for present and future defendants who may attempt to flee. Apprehending fugitives clears crowded court dockets, ensures that convicted defendants serve their sentences, and prevents fugitives from committing additional crimes. Finally, it ensures that resources expended by other agencies investigating crimes and prosecuting defendants are not wasted.

Currently there are thousands of fugitives from justice under the Department's area of responsibility. The USMS and the FBI are the two primary agencies within DOJ tasked with fugitive apprehensions. Their relationship and responsibilities are delineated in a joint memorandum of understanding.

The U.S. Marshals Service is also responsible for the safekeeping and transportation of federal prisoners in its custody. This includes the critically important function of providing in-district transportation of prisoners for judicial proceedings, legal hearings, meetings with attorneys, and trials, as well as for out-patient medical care and hospitalization, when required. This function consumes an enormous amount of deputy U.S. marshal resources, in that prisoners must be produced in a timely fashion to meet court schedules. In FY 2000, the USMS completed more than 500,000 in-district prisoner productions.

In addition to the daily local transportation of prisoners to various legal proceedings and meetings, the USMS also operates the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS). JPATS was created in 1995 by the merging of the USMS and INS air transportation fleets. JPATS is responsible for moving all federal prisoners and detainees whether in the custody of the USMS, BOP, or INS. In fiscal year 1999, JPATS began operating as a revolving fund activity with operating costs being reimbursed by customer agencies on a cost per seat charge. Additionally, JPATS provides repatriation movements overseas to return illegal aliens to their homelands; reimbursement of repatriation movements is provided by INS.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Focus on apprehending Most Wanted and Major Case fugitives.

Locating and apprehending the 15 Most Wanted, Major Case, and other violent fugitives are the main priorities of the USMS fugitive program. These fugitives may consist of terrorists and material witnesses to terrorism, along with the worst narcotics traffickers and most violent felons wanted by federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement agencies. They often have lengthy criminal histories and are likely to commit additional crimes if not apprehended in a timely manner.

Like the USMS, the FBI works closely with other federal agencies, as well as state and local law enforcement in its quest for wanted fugitives. The recent expansion of the Bureau's Legat Program has increased the effectiveness of FBI field offices to coordinate international fugitive investigations.

The Department will continue to elicit the public's assistance in fugitive apprehensions through increased media publicity. Currently, the FBI and USMS both maintain Most Wanted lists that receive extensive media attention. Both also will continue to maintain Internet web sites which display the most significant fugitives, and participate in several national television shows, such as America's Most Wanted, to profile the most dangerous or significant fugitives. These agencies also distribute wanted flyers to police departments and other agencies nationally.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Fugitive warrants. During the past decade, the USMS has entered into MOUs with a number of federal law enforcement agencies which have provided the USMS the administrative and investigative responsibility for their fugitive warrants. These agencies include the U.S. Customs Service, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Internal Revenue Service, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, various Offices of the Inspector General, and others. These MOUs allow the participating agencies to take advantage of the experience and expertise of the USMS in fugitive matters, and to free their agents to investigate additional crimes.

OCDETF. The USMS also participates in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force program, where it is responsible for the location and apprehension of most OCDETF fugitives, including the most serious drug offenders.

Fugitive Task Forces. Additionally, through its network of 89 interagency fugitive task forces located throughout the United States, the USMS assists other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in an effort to locate fugitives wanted for violent crime and drug offenses. These task forces cleared over 24,000 federal, state, and local warrants in 2000.

Strategic Objective 7.4 BANKRUPTCY - - Protect the integrity and ensure the effective operation of the Nation's bankruptcy system.

The Department, through the U.S. Trustee Program (USTP), oversees and administers the bankruptcy caseload and combats bankruptcy fraud. The USTP works to ensure that cases are administered promptly, effectively, and fairly. Timely administration of bankruptcy cases is critical to the integrity of the bankruptcy system and the maximum distribution of funds to creditors.

In the United States, federal bankruptcy law allows individuals, businesses, corporations, farmers, and municipalities to file bankruptcy. Filing bankruptcy is a means of relief from debts owed to creditors through the liquidation of assets, reorganization, or through the development of a scheduled repayment plan, where the debts originated due to uncontrollable events, failed business investments, or other risks taken, placing them in an untenable position with creditors. Since 1996, bankruptcy filings in America have been increasing at a significant rate. In 1996, total bankruptcy filings were just under 1 million (934,689). By 2000, total filings had increased to 1,203,412. This represents a 29 percent increase in the last 4 years with the greatest growth attributed to individual liquidation filings.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Provide administrative support to move cases efficiently and effectively through the bankruptcy process.

Trustees are fiduciaries of bankruptcy estates who administer cases under Chapters 7, 12, and 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. The USTP must regulate and monitor the activities of private trustees to ensure that cases are processed in a timely and efficient manner. Such oversight must identify problems sufficiently early in cases and provide intervention as necessary to prevent cases from being held up, since the longer the case is in the system the less money is available for creditors.

Ensure that parties adhere to standards of the law and police for embezzlement, fraud, and other abuses.

The USTP is vigorously combating abuse of the bankruptcy system through the use of civil enforcement remedies found in Sections 707, 727, and 110 of the Bankruptcy Code. These enforcement provisions authorize the USTP to file a motion for dismissal for substantial abuse, file an objection to a debtor's bankruptcy discharge, and pursue penalties against individuals who negligently or fraudulently prepare bankruptcy petitions. In addition, the U.S. Trustees refer instances of possible criminal conduct to the U.S. Attorney and assist in prosecutions. The USTP develops criminal referrals and, in cooperation with other federal agencies which have the authority to investigate and prosecute criminal bankruptcy violations, helps formulate responses to address bankruptcy fraud.

Maximize the return of estate assets to creditors.

The USTP acts as the "watchdog" of the bankruptcy system and ensures that the more than $5 billion in bankruptcy estate assets that flow through the system annually are properly handled. Therefore, while protecting the rights of debtors, the USTP appoints and evaluates the performance of private trustees to ensure prompt administration and maximize the return of estate assets to creditors. In Chapter 7, 12, and 13 cases, the Program tracks the costs of trustee operations, which include monitoring fees associated with the use of professionals to ensure that administrative fees do not erode bankruptcy estate assets. The Program tracks the distributions to creditors through the use of the Distribution Report for Closed Asset Cases. This tool enables the USTP to identify trends and potential problems, as well as to provide more accurate and reliable information regarding distributions to creditors. In Chapter 11 cases, the USTP monitors the progress and financial condition of a debtor and acts promptly to file a motion to dismiss or convert the case to a Chapter 7 if the debtor is not complying with the Bankruptcy Code or the debtor is unable to reorganize. The role of the U.S. Trustee is especially important in smaller Chapter 11 cases in which creditors lack a financial stake to participate actively. These efforts also result in maximizing returns to creditors.

Improve the accuracy of data and information on bankruptcy case administration and operation in order to assess performance.

Currently, information about the United States Trustees bankruptcy administration is gathered through periodic data calls, random surveys, and regular consultations with United States Trustees. The process of gathering information is cumbersome, and time to analyze the information makes tracking of performance difficult. The enhancement of the United States Trustee Automated Case Management System will improve the quality and timeliness of the information received, reduce the burden on staff of collecting and analyzing the data, and allow performance review to occur regularly rather than sporadically.

Key Crosscutting Programs

National Bankruptcy Fraud Working Group. The USTP plays a leading role in the National Bankruptcy Fraud Working Group (NBFWG), comprising members from the U.S. Attorneys' Offices, DOJ Criminal Division, FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Trustees' Offices and the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. The NBFWG coordinates a national response to bankruptcy fraud issues, facilitates pro-active national investigations, assists districts in establishing local bankruptcy fraud task forces, tracks all bankruptcy fraud referrals and convictions, and develops training programs on bankruptcy fraud. Sixty of the Program's field offices have established local bankruptcy fraud working groups led by U.S. Attorneys. In addition, the Program has undertaken projects in conjunction with the Identity Theft Subcommittee of the Attorney General's Council on White Collar Crime and joined the Internet Fraud Working Group.

Electronic Case Filing. Another crosscutting program is electronic case filing, which resulted from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts' requirement that all cases be electronically filed nationwide by the close of FY 2002. The AOUSC developed a Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (ECF) System, which allows attorneys to file petitions and other electronic documents with designated Courts through the Internet using a standard web browser. ECF is a major DOJ initiative since all litigating components will be required to use it. The USTP's need for ECF access will be great due to its administrative role in moving cases efficiently through the bankruptcy system. The USTP is involved in every case and does not have the discretion to decline them.

MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

The Department does not face any mission-critical management problems or challenges which would significantly hinder the Department from achieving this strategic goal.

 

Goal 8:  ENSURE PROFESSIONALISM, EXCELLENCE, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND INTEGRITY IN THE              MANAGEMENT AND CONDUCT OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS

---

Achieving our strategic goals and objectives depends greatly on how well we manage and implement our programs. The Department's mission "... to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States ... to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans" establishes unequivocally a mandate that requires a professional workforce. Exemplary service to the public and maintenance of the public's trust is, therefore, inherent in every aspect of the Department's work. It is critical that positions are filled and responsibilities carried out by the best and most qualified talent available, with a workforce representative of the nation we serve. Because of the priority we attach to good management, we have established a separate goal within our strategic plan to highlight corporate-level objectives and strategies that cut across component boundaries and that are key to mission accomplishment. Our aim is to create a Department of Justice that is regarded by the public and by our stakeholders as an exemplar of integrity, efficient stewardship, and managerial excellence.

Strategic Objective 8.1 INTEGRITY AND PROFESSIONALISM - - Promote integrity and professionalism to ensure the fair and impartial administration of justice.

In order to be effective and to engender public trust in the Department's programs and activities, Department personnel, whether employees, contractors, or grantees, must be held accountable for their actions. This objective is crucial to ensure that the affairs of the Department are managed and conducted according to the highest standards of integrity, accountability, and efficiency.

The Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) were established to detect and prevent misconduct and mismanagement on the part of Department personnel and programs. Specifically, the OIG investigates alleged violations of criminal and civil laws, regulations, and ethical standards arising from the conduct of the Department's employees in their diverse activities. Using the coordinated efforts of its investigative, audit, and inspection resources, the OIG provides leadership and assists management in promoting integrity, economy, efficiency, and effectiveness both within the Department and in its financial, contractual, and grant relationships with others. OPR is responsible for investigating allegations that Department of Justice attorneys have engaged in misconduct in connection with their duties to investigate, represent the Government in litigation, or provide legal advice. In addition, OPR has jurisdiction to investigate allegations of misconduct by law enforcement personnel when such allegations are related to allegations of attorney misconduct within the jurisdiction of OPR.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Public trust and confidence are critical as we look to the challenges facing the Federal Government in the 21st century. Given their independence, experience, and integrity, the OIG and OPR are in position to provide the high level of public accountability needed in an oversight body. Both offices will attempt to achieve the strategic objective through the following strategies to foster integrity, strengthen management accountability, and promote efficiency and effectiveness:

Focus audit, inspections, and other evaluative efforts on Department programs and expenditures in order to strengthen accountability and performance.

The OIG will conduct, report, and follow up on financial and performance audits and inspections of Department organizations, programs, contracts, grants, and other agreements. These audits, inspections, and reviews are designed to provide timely notification to Department management of issues needing attention. The OIG will work closely with Department management to develop recommendations for corrective actions to resolve identified weaknesses that inhibit efficient and effective operations and customer service.

Use investigative resources to pursue allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse against Department personnel, contractors, and grantees.

The OIG will investigate allegations of bribery, fraud, abuse, civil rights violations, and violations of other laws and procedures that govern Department employees, contractors, and grantees. OPR attorneys will receive, review, investigate, and report on allegations of prosecutorial or investigative misconduct by Department officials within its jurisdiction

Key Crosscutting Programs

President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency. The Department's OIG is a member of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE). The PCIE, comprising all Presidentially-appointed Inspectors General, is charged with conducting interagency and intra-entity audit, inspections, and investigations dealing with governmentwide issues of waste, fraud, and abuse. The PCIE accomplishes its work through committee activity. The Department's OIG is a participant on several committees and is currently engaged in PCIE-sponsored audits, inspections, and other reviews.

The PCIE has also issued interim quality standards for the management, operation, and conduct of federal OIGs. In addition, it has established the Inspector General Criminal Investigator Academy and Inspectors General Auditor Training Institute to provide a cadre of experienced professional IG investigators and auditors.

Professional Responsibility Advisory Office. In April 1999, the Department established the Professional Responsibility Advisory Office (PRAO), whose mission includes providing definitive advice and guidance to Department attorneys and assisting in training programs on professional responsibility and professional ethics issues. In addition to its advice-giving role, the PRAO assembles and maintains the codes of ethics, relevant court decisions, and bar opinions of every state and territory; serves as a repository for briefs and pleadings as ethics cases arise; and coordinates with the litigating components to defend attorneys in any disciplinary proceeding where it is alleged they failed to meet their ethical obligations. An independent component reporting to the Deputy Attorney General, the PRAO is designed to provide consistent and useful guidance to all Department attorneys and client agencies so that they can conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards of professional integrity.

Strategic Objective 8.2 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT - - Strengthen internal financial systems and promote the efficient and effective use of resources to ensure public trust and confidence.

To meet the programmatic strategic goals and objectives set forth in this plan, the Department's financial systems must operate efficiently, effectively, and with integrity. By employing sound financial management practices, the Department can make maximum use of the resources it is provided through appropriations, fees, forfeited assets, and other funding mechanisms. The trust is substantial: the Department receives appropriations each year that exceed $20 billion, and collects billions of dollars in fee receipts from those to whom it provides direct benefits, particularly immigration services. Properly accounting for these resources is of paramount concern.

Strategy to Achieve the Objective

Ensure sound and effective financial management policies and practices.

The Department received a qualified audit opinion in Fiscal Year 2000; it anticipates receiving an unqualified opinion for FY 2001 and beyond. The audit opinion for the Department's consolidated statements is dependent upon opinions of the auditors on the financial statements of the reporting entities of the Department, since the consolidated financial statements are based on those entities' statements. Those entities include the Justice Management Division (for the Offices, Boards and Divisions), the Assets Forfeiture Fund and Seized Asset Deposit Fund, the Working Capital Fund, FBI, DEA, INS, OJP, USMS, BOP, and the Federal Prison Industries, Incorporated. Since the Department expects to receive an unqualified opinion on future financial statements, it will turn its focus in the future on the elimination of material weaknesses reported by the financial statement auditors.

Implement a systematic process for selecting, controlling, and evaluating information technology investments to protect taxpayer dollars.

The Department spends $1.5 billion on information technology (IT) each year. To ensure that these funds are used efficiently, DOJ is implementing guidelines requiring explanation of how the money will be spent, what the life cycle costs will be, what processes will be used to monitor expenditures during system development and deployment, and what evaluation mechanisms will be used to assess how well the IT investments have met planned objectives. The goal of DOJ's investment management program is to ensure that the best available technology is acquired to support our law enforcement and litigation programs.

Key Crosscutting Programs

In implementing this strategy we will collaborate with our financial and budget partners through the Chief Financial Officers' Council and the Budget Officers' Advisory Council. Other crosscutting vehicles for implementing the Department's strategy are the Departmentwide financial statements working group and the Department's Financial Managers' Council. The financial statement working group, which includes representatives from each bureau component and Office of Inspector General, develops policy and resolves issues in regard to financial statements. The Department's Financial Managers Council, which includes financial managers from the bureaus, discusses and resolves financial management issues of the Department. The Department will continue to participate in the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Board, the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (SGL) Board, and the SGL Issues Resolution Committee meetings.

Strategic Objective 8.3 GRANT MANAGEMENT - - Develop and maintain grant management accountability mechanisms to ensure proper disbursement and monitoring of funds.

The Office of Justice Programs is the primary grant-making component within the Department of Justice, maintaining a portfolio of over 40,000 active grants valued at over $20 billion. Since the 1990's, OJP has experienced large increases in its funding due to the passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Violence Against Women Acts I & II, and other significant legislation. Comprehensive grant management and financial monitoring of all OJP funds is essential to ensure the proper administration of programs and reduce the opportunity for fraud, waste, and abuse of departmental funds.

To ease public access to Federal grant programs and reduce the flow of paper award packages, OJP electronically certifies awards through an automated Grants Management System (GMS), consistent with the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act. OJP will strengthen accountability mechanisms through the continued improvements to GMS and continue to ensure proper disbursement and monitoring of funds through audits, training, site visits, and technical assistance.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Modern financial systems are required to meet federal financial system requirements and regulations. The Office of Justice Programs Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) is the official system of record for all OJP funding, commitments, obligations, expenditures, and payments. Financial statements emanating from this system are annually subjected to audit by an independent accounting firm ensuring the safeguard of OJP assets. OJP's GMS and IFMIS enable end-to-end Internet-based grant application, award, and payment for the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant and State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP).

Standardize and streamline the grants management process.

GMS will allow OJP to electronically track and process grants for initial application to closeout. This paperless system will allow grantees to receive and submit applications and receive awards electronically, reducing the paperwork required by grantees and standardizing the process with OJP's program offices. This effort is consistent with the requirements of the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act.

Reduce waste, fraud, and abuse through financial monitoring and training.

Each year, OJP develops a risk-based monitoring plan which takes into consideration inherent programmatic and recipient risks, including the amount of funding at risk, known problems, special requests, and a random sample of the entire active award universe. Financial monitoring by auditors independent of the program offices provides assurance that agency assets are being safeguarded and that expenditures and expenditure accruals are being reported accurately. The results of financial monitoring are used in OJP's nationwide Regional Financial Management Training Seminars as well as in the grant course offered to state and local law enforcement officers at the FBI National Academy.

Eliminate overpayment at the agency level and ensure a transactional audit trail for actions related to the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.

OJP's SCAAP provides formula-based assistance to states, based on their submissions of empirical data, for housing undocumented criminal aliens The payment program was recently modernized from a paper-based, sequential data-driven process to the current paperless, Internet-based system. The new application ensures a transactional audit trail for applicant and program office staff actions, including an electronic discussion feature and tracking of correspondence. The modernization of this system has ensured that overpayment issues at the agency level no longer occur. In addition, OJP will address any issues related to inaccurate inmate records, costs, and facility data through yearly on-site audits conducted by IT and financial auditors.

Key Crosscutting Programs

OJP works with its internal bureaus and program offices to ensure proper financial oversight, disbursement, and use of grant funding. OJP collaborates with the Office of Management and Budget and other government agencies in developing, modifying, and implementing governmentwide grant-related rules and regulations such as the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act. OJP analyzes audits conducted by the General Accounting Office and the Departments Office of the Inspector General, and provides on-site technical assistance to ensure implementation of recommendations made by the auditors. OJP also coordinates with the FBI National Academy to offer Regional Financial Management Training Seminars for state and local law enforcement officers. Additionally, OJP works with INS to monitor the application of program guidance affecting determination of inmate eligibility under the SCAAP program.

Strategic Objective 8.4 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - - Improve the integrity and security of computer systems and make more effective use of information technology.

Department components rely on a wide range of information technologies to support the Department's mission. Together, these technologies are used to enable communication among departmental components and with other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, as well as with other countries; permit the exchange of information with our business partners and the public; and improve operational efficiencies. Positioning and integrating these rapidly evolving technologies to connect components having different missions, program needs, and funding resources will continue to pose serious challenges to the Department over the next 5 years.

The foundation for improving the integration of IT capabilities and program needs is a secure, interoperable network infrastructure including wireless and remote telecommunications. This communications capability enables components to exploit the use of new technologies to share, exchange, and disseminate program information without compromising the privacy of individuals or the confidentiality of the data.

In 2001, the Department issued an integrated Departmentwide policy for the implementation and protection of information technology systems that store, process, or transmit classified or unclassified information. The policy reflects the Department's commitment to ensuring that security is an integral part of its business operations, that risks are continually assessed throughout the life cycle, and that controls are implemented commensurate with the level of risk and potential for harm. The policy sets minimum requirements for component security programs and minimum standards for system security controls. Security is an explicit element of all information technology planning and management activities, including the development and maintenance of an Enterprise Architecture, the review and selection of new investments, and the management of systems throughout the life cycle.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Enhance the security and reliability of information systems to ensure systems are available to support core mission functions

As the Department becomes more dependent on IT, the need to enhance computer systems security rises. Since the Department's computer systems now hold a majority of the sensitive information used in the course of business, our systems security planning must identify how we will protect this data from being destroyed, altered, or disclosed to unauthorized persons. In addition, the compromise of our data systems could render important tools useless, and greatly impede the Department's ability to conduct its core business functions.

To address these important concerns, the Department is engaged in an active process of certifying and accrediting all computer-based information systems and networks. The certification and accreditation effort is the foundation for the Department's critical infrastructure planning. Through these activities, the Department will ensure that all systems have appropriate security controls in place and that contingency plans are drafted and implemented to allow for continuity of operations should a system failure occur.

Develop and implement information systems that improve access to information across the Department of Justice and other federal, state, and local legal and law enforcement entities.

Given the wide range of activity that occurs across jurisdictions and the need to coordinate among the diverse agencies, information sharing is an increasingly important aspect of law enforcement. IT can facilitate this communication by speeding the delivery of information across jurisdictions and opening up new avenues of information. The Department has several initiatives underway to enhance the interagency communication abilities of law enforcement organizations. We already provide a number of resources to facilitate information flow across the criminal justice community through existing systems such as the National Crime Information Center (NCIC 2000) system, Law Enforcement On-line (LEO), and the Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) program. We are committed to using new technologies (such as the Internet) to expand the availability and types of information accessible by the law enforcement community. Key projects underway include the Justice Consolidated Network (JCN) which will provide the enabling infrastructure; the Joint Automated Booking System (JABS) which will provide improved booking capability and sharing of offender information within the Department; the Global Justice Information Network which will increase access to federal, state, and local law enforcement data; implementation of public key encryption to allow the Department to conduct electronic business with the public securely over the Internet; and integration of fingerprint databases maintained by the INS and the FBI.

Increase the ability to provide information to the public electronically.

The Department recognizes the mutual benefits to the U.S. Government and the public to collect and disseminate information electronically. Business conducted electronically can result in more efficient and accurate information collection and dissemination for both the public and the Federal Government. It also makes the Government information more widely available and should improve departmental responsiveness to public requests for specific information. Toward this end, the Department is committed to utilizing the Internet in general, and the Department's web site in particular, as an avenue to communicate with the public. In addition, Justice components such as the INS, the DEA, and the OJP have begun efforts to allow the public to transact specific business with Department over the Internet. OJP has implemented the Grants Management System which expedites the grant application and award process by replacing over 100 separate grant administration applications and enabling applicants to access the system from any personal computer connected to the Internet. The DEA Diversion Control program is developing an electronic means for pharmaceutical companies and distributors to file required reports electronically. The INS currently provides customers with the capability to obtain information and benefit forms on the INS web site. The INS is also planning to create a "virtual office" that can provide services and conduct much of the essential business of the agency's core service missions, including electronic filing, payment of fees, paperless A-files, and electronically-effected and controlled adjudications processes.

Key Crosscutting Programs

Because of the increased need to share data across organizations worldwide, the Department has begun emphasizing the need to integrate component computer-based information systems. The Department is developing an enterprise architecture that will provide a framework for data sharing and guide the development of the next generation of Justice computer-based information systems. The Department has implemented an IT capital planning and investment control process to effectively manage its IT investments. The Department's Strategic Management Council serves as the formal board to provide direction and leadership on long-range planning and initiatives for IT efforts.

In addition, the Department is developing systems and services to connect and integrate existing data systems. These efforts include basic infrastructure projects such as the JCN, Departmentwide applications such as the Justice electronic mail and directory services and the JABS projects, and the integration of specific component systems such as the IDENT/IAFIS initiative.

Strategic Objective 8.5 HUMAN RESOURCES - - Strengthen human resource recruitment, retention, and performance to ensure a workforce that is skilled, diverse, and committed to excellence.

Both the General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Office of Personnel Management have emphasized that there is a clear link between an agency's human capital and its ability to meet its strategic goals. The GAO's Comptroller General, for example, recently told attendees at a conference sponsored by the National Academy for Public Administration that "the key competitive difference in the 21st Century will be people. It will not be process. It will not be technology. It will be people." This is especially true at the Department. Our success in achieving our mission is clearly dependent on our ability to hire and retain a talented cadre of people to serve in our legal, law enforcement, and related occupational areas.

A survey conducted in the fall of 1999 found that about 70 percent of Justice employees (excluding the INS and FBI) are satisfied with their jobs (nearly 10 percentage points higher than that reported governmentwide or in private industry). In addition, about two-thirds of Justice employees agreed that differences among individuals are respected and valued within the Department, again substantially higher than the 58 percent agreeing governmentwide. At the same time, the survey highlighted needs to improve communication about training and worklife opportunities.

In 2000, the Department completed its examination of law enforcement hiring, attrition, retention, and diversity directed by the Attorney General. As part of this review, short and long-term hiring needs were identified, along with recruitment tools for selected priority occupations. In addition, improvements have been made in the dissemination of information on training and worklife issues to existing staff.

Now, the Department is modifying the performance plans for the July 1, 2001 - June 30, 2002 rating cycle for its executives to more adequately address the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. In particular, these performance plans will align executives' responsibilities with the Department's strategic planning initiatives and annual performance goals. These have placed added focus on customer satisfaction and employee management.

Strategies to Achieve the Objective

Develop and implement a plan of action to ensure that critical skill needs are met.

As part of the law enforcement assessment noted above, it has become clear that problems in obtaining a sufficient number of qualified applicants for key occupations, combined with a lengthy screening and hiring process, have made it difficult for the Department to meet these needs in certain critical job and skill areas. The Department is developing a specific action plan to meet these needs, including the development of specific recruitment tools to be used for targeted occupations Departmentwide. The Department will continue to monitor and evaluate its workforce needs and to reassess its plans based on experience and changing requirements.

Continue to meet the needs and expectations of Department employees by providing opportunities for training and career development, offering a range of worklife options, fostering diversity, and other means.

The Department will continue to meet the needs and expectations of its employees. It will emphasize being a "family friendly" workplace by providing a wide range of worklife options and dependent care services. It will also emphasize the importance of employee development by ensuring that high quality training is available for law enforcement and legal staff, as well as for managers and support personnel. Communication about training and worklife opportunities will be enhanced by use of a redesigned and improved intranet web site.

Performance will be managed in multiple ways. First, the Department's Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance Plan was rewritten and approved by the Office of Personnel Management in August 2001. The Plan more accurately reflects emphasis on job performance that is reflective of the Department's strategic plan and performance goals, as well as customer satisfaction and how well executives manage employee effectiveness, productivity and performance. Next, individual performance plans will be rewritten to conform to the overall plan. Additionally, improved executive development is designed to further facilitate enhanced performance. For example, training opportunities were expanded in-house with monthly management seminars, partnering with Department of Interior for their speaker series and Department of Labor for the SES forum. DOJ's training website has been substantially enhanced with federal and non-federal training and scholarship opportunities and resources for training providers.

MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Financial Management. Over the past several years, the Department has made significant progress in correcting weaknesses in its accounting and financial management systems. This progress has been reflected in the audit opinions received on its financial statements. However, further work is required. Every Justice component with responsibility for maintaining an official financial system is either implementing a new system, in the final phases of implementing a new system, or beginning the planning to identify and acquire a new system. The Department will continue to aggressively monitor financial management activities Departmentwide to ensure that all reportable conditions and weaknesses are corrected.

Information Technology Security. Security will continue to dominate management attention as cybercrime emerges on an international scale and demands new technological crime-fighting tools and methods. As the technology advances, so, too, do the threats posed by increasingly sophisticated cyber-criminals. Given our role in fighting cybercrime, the Department itself has become a target for attack. We must upgrade our systems constantly to maintain adequate security, as well as to keep pace with our business partners. Another key challenge is to transform the way organizations collect, store, and display information to deliver trusted, timely, and easily understood information to all users through web-based portals at the desktop and in remote locations.

 

EXTERNAL FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT GOAL ACHIEVEMENT

---

A number of external factors could affect our ability to achieve our strategic goals and objectives. Obviously, the Department's ability to meet its goals could be significantly affected by more unpredictable events or emergencies that demand attention and skew priorities. They can also be affected by shifts in public attitudes towards crime and justice, by changing statutory responsibilities, technological advances, and a host of other elements.

These are summarized in the table that follows.