http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/11-06/11-06-06/13world-nation.htm

Private researchers say prosecutors increasingly rejecting FBI terror 
investigations
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press writer

WASHINGTON --- The Justice Department increasingly has refused to 
prosecute FBI cases targeting suspected terrorists over the past five 
years, according to private researchers who reviewed department records.
The government says the findings are inaccurate and "intellectually 
dishonest."
The report being released today by the Transactional Records Access 
Clearinghouse at Syracuse University raises questions about the quality 
of the FBI's investigations.
Prosecutors declined to bring charges in 131 of 150, or 87 percent, of 
international terrorist case referrals from the FBI between October 2005 
and June 2006, according to the report. The study was based on the most 
recent data available from the Justice Department's executive office for 
U.S. attorneys.
That number marks the peak of generally steady increases from the 2001 
budget year, when prosecutors rejected 33 percent of such cases from the 
FBI, according to the report.
The data "raise troubling questions about the bureau's investigation of 
criminal matters involving individuals the government has identified as 
international terrorists," the report said.
It noted that prosecutions in traditional FBI investigations since 2001 
--- including drug cases, white collar crimes and organized crimes --- have 
decreased while the number of agents and other employees has risen.
"So with more special agents, many more intelligence analysts, and many 
fewer prosecutions the question must be asked: What is the FBI doing?" 
the report said.
A Justice Department spokesman disputed the data highlighted by the 
Syracuse researchers, noting that terrorist hoax cases that were quickly 
dismissed may have been included in the government data.
Additionally, some cases are referred to prosecutors to obtain subpoenas 
or other legal orders in investigations that ultimately never result in 
criminal charges, spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. He said prosecutors 
rejected 67 percent of FBI international terrorist cases in the 
nine-month period --- not 87 percent.
The FBI's assistant director, John Miller, said the low number of cases 
prosecuted reflects changes in how investigations have been conducted 
since the Sept. 11 attacks. He said about half of the FBI's resources go 
to detection and information gathering of terrorist networks in cases 
that do not always result in arrests.
"It's not about the numbers and for TRAC to suggest as much is to be 
intellectually dishonest," Miller said.
He added: "The FBI has been very clear about how we have changed the way 
we do business since 9/11."
TRAC co-director Susan Long said researchers merely relied on the 
Justice Department's own numbers to come up with the conclusions.

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