cannabisnews.com: FBI Dropping Other Crime Fighting FBI Dropping Other Crime Fighting Posted by FoM on October 27, 2001 at 14:50:03 PT By Ana Radelat, Gannett News Service Source: Greenville News The FBI told its bureaus across the nation Friday to immediately begin using the new police powers Congress approved this week to focus on a new priority — preventing more terror attacks on U.S. soil. The FBI is planning a massive reorganization, now partially under way, that will shift some of its current duties, including bank robbery, drug trafficking and some violent crime investigations, to other federal agencies or local police departments. To help them in their new mission, the 56 FBI bureaus and 94 U.S. attorney's offices across the nation were sent a "very detailed and very technical, section-by-section analysis" of new legislation President Bush signed into in to law on Friday, a Justice Department official said. The new law expands the FBI's wiretapping and electronic surveillance authority, imposes stronger penalties for harboring or financing terrorists and allows the Justice Department and U.S. intelligence agencies — primarily the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and the super-secret National Security Agency — to share information. Law enforcement will be "prudent, but rigorous, with our new authority," the Justice Department official said. Eric Sterling of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation predicts there will be little outcry about the FBI's beefed-up police powers, even though some fear they will violate privacy rights and lead to the detention of innocent people who have had unwitting contacts with terrorism suspects. "All of the law enforcement agencies are embarrassed about the failure to know anything about September 11, and there's a very strong desire to avoid future embarrassment by erring on the side of overacting," Sterling said. "They say, 'The only criticism we're going to get is from the civil liberties community; the rest of the public is not going to care if we arrest people on sketchy grounds." To quickly round up suspected terrorists, authorities will use the "Al Capone example," a law enforcement tactic deployed by some of the first federal agents to put the notorious gangster behind bars, the Justice Department official said. Lacking evidence, federal agents were unable to charge Capone with racketeering or murder, so they prosecuted him on tax evasion charges. Federal authorities will resort to the use of minor charges when necessary to apprehend suspected terrorists, he said. Attorney General John Ashcroft vowed Thursday to use "every available statute" and "every prosecutorial advantage" in the war on terror. "Let the terrorists among us be warned: If you overstay your visa — even by one day — we will arrest you," Ashcroft said. The Al Capone tactic has already been used in the investigation to detain or arrest many of the nearly 1,000 people who have been held on visa violations or because they had broken a federal or state law. Since Sept. 11, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI chief Robert Mueller have repeatedly insisted the FBI's new emphasis on counterterrorism is permanent. But the entrenched culture of the FBI — which prizes crime fighting over counter-intelligence — may make it difficult for Mueller to overhaul the agency. Mueller has already run into one basic problem: Few FBI agents know how to speak or read Arabic or other languages spoken in the Middle East and Afghanistan, such as Farsi and Pashto. He was forced to make a public appeal for translators in the days after the Sept. 11 attack. Even before the assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, key members of Congress were calling for significant changes in the FBI that included a greater emphasis on counterterrorism. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a key member of the Judiciary Committee, wrote Mueller this week that the FBI should stop "gobbling up the responsibilities of other law enforcement agencies" and let the Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal, state and local cops chase drug traffickers and bank robbers. "This Pac-Man mentality dilutes FBI resources and keeps the FBI from focusing on the work they do best, fighting complex white-collar crime and terrorism," Grassley said. But Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., a critic of the FBI's past blunders, is confident Mueller will be able to remake the agency. "I think it's proper that the events of September 11 has changed the thought process of what the FBI's role is going to be," Shelby said. "Some of it will shift to local law enforcement people, and that's fine." Shelby also said he is confident Congress will approve a boost of the FBI's budget to hire more agents and give it tools to keep the nation safe. "We will give them whatever they need," Shelby said. Complete Title: FBI Dropping Other Crime Fighting for Anti-Terrorism WorkSource: Greenville News (SC)Author: Ana Radelat, Gannett News Service Published: Friday, October 26, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Greenville NewsWebsite: http://greenvilleonline.com/Contact: nwsltrs greenville.infi.netRelated Articles:FBI Seeking To Wiretap Internethttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11206.shtmlBush Signs Anti-Terror Legislation http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11196.shtmlBush Signs Bipartisan Bill to Combat Terrorismhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11195.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #13 posted by FoM on October 28, 2001 at 16:00:51 PT Doug Hi Doug, I'm not sure why the stats are up that day. I know we are growing and I'm glad you like the people that comment here. That's all I hoped for from the very beginning. I felt like a fish out of water because everywhere I tried to go and talk someone started fighting and I find infighting counter productive. I just hoped people would feel free to talk about articles and help all of us learn and it is doing far better then I ever even hoped for and it's because of all of you. It is a nice community of people. Thanks! [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by Doug on October 28, 2001 at 15:05:01 PT Very Interesting Stats I had no idea (from previous comments) that the number of people here was so large, and has been growing pretty constantly. You must be doing something right -- and probably many things. And there are so many good people commenting, which of course means I generally agree with them! I know since havng discovered this site I'm here every day, unless I'm out of twon. I wonder what was happening on October 16 (new moon) that caused so many more visits. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by E_Johnson on October 28, 2001 at 10:45:02 PT The Internet as a confession booth!!! From the deawatch:we will have agents who will use the new laws to go after organizations and people they don't like either for a case or for personal reasons.Um I thought that was called "marijuana prohibition". We all know that marijuana was not prohibited because it was measured statistically and scientifically to present an actual public danger. Every objective government commission that studied marijuana back in those days concluded that it was NOT a threat to public safety or health, certainly not when comp[ared with alcohol.Marijuana was prohibited because Harry Anslinger, the father of the DEA, had very deep racist contempt for Louis Armstrong and every black man like him, and he had very personal ties to the petrochemical industry and William Randolph Hearst, who in turn had deeply racist contempt for the imported Mexican farmworkers who were needed to make California agriculture a profitable enterprise.And we all know that hemp oil was not banned by the DEA because it presents any real danger to America.Hemp oil was banned because DEA agents have deep personal contempt for the people in the hemp and marijuana legalization movements and wanted to do them harm in any way possible. To show them who is the boss.And I invite any DEA agent out there who thinks he or she has enough balls or ovaries to face the enemy openly in public, to come here and prove otherwise. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by FoM on October 28, 2001 at 10:19:56 PT dddd and everyone I can't find anymore news so I think I'll go throw the frizbee for Kaptin to catch! LOL! That sounds so funny! I never did news before I got on line but current news has always interested me. What the different comments are like to me from all of you is it's like a big party where everyone has something interesting to add. Different people and different ideas. When someone locks themselves into " I believe this way and no one will convince me otherwise" I shy away. We have a good balance here because none of us holds the answer. There is no answer just ideas particularly now since the WTC Tragedy. So friends all I can say is Party On! [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by dddd on October 28, 2001 at 09:54:34 PT FoM ..I think that you are doing a good job of walking the fine line,between becoming overly "political",and staying with the Cannabis theme...both issues are closely related,,and now that the 9/11 thing has turned the world further upside down,,it's not an easy thing to avoid having violently sheepish radical bigmouths, like 4Q,making brash political statements,that are not necessarily Cannabis related......Keep on keepin' on... ......I wish Liberace,or Al Franken was president,,,or better yet,,Ariana Huffington!..... dddd [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by JSM on October 28, 2001 at 09:32:32 PT Readership 68000 hits in one day....this site is growing very fast and that sends a very powerful message. Any bets as to when we see 100,000 hits daily?Despite everything, positive change is coming. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on October 28, 2001 at 08:45:57 PT Hi Everyone We are growing. We will only be three years old the beginning of December. Front page hits are approaching 900,000 and that is just front page hits. I look at the articles in my other stats and have been able to see which articles are read and which ones are not and I try to pick articles based on looking at the history and thinking why does this article matter to C News readers or why not. I can tell you why I don't post many treatment articles. They aren't read very much. Marijuana articles no matter where in the world they are from are read. Civil rights articles are read a lot too. Slowly I'm learning what is important or what isn't at least to the readers of C News.PS: I haven't found any more articles so far to post but I will keep looking. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by MikeEEEEE on October 28, 2001 at 08:22:12 PT Stats FoM, as the charts show, there's an upward movement year to year -- these numbers are impressive. These numbers also indicate that government propaganda isn't worth what it used to be. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by dddd on October 28, 2001 at 07:32:40 PT Astounding ,,,FoM! ..I just looked at the stats.....I had no idea there were so many visitors!.....I guess I better round out,,and soften my akward,and disturbed commentarys!...I'm embarassed,,I was thinkin' maybe 4 or 5 hundred people were visiting daily,,,,,...just goes to show what a downtown hillbilly I am!....lol....dddd [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by lookinside on October 28, 2001 at 06:44:43 PT: FoM... just looked at the stats...very impressive...congratulations...you are doing a wonderful job...i think we are going to see some fear of the thought police in our posts here...i've expressed some angry thoughts here....some very draconian scenarios on ways to regain our civil liberties...i have never directly threatened (to my knowledge) any government employee...what i have done is exercised my first amendment rights...i will not give up these rights willingly...i don't believe our govmint in WARshington has the right to overthrow our constitution and bill of rights as they have been doing...we're going to have to be very vocal in the next few years to prevent this...we need more comments against these infringements...thank you for providing this forum, which i consider my "home" online... [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on October 27, 2001 at 21:24:48 PT p4me Hi p4me, This is about normal for the weekend. Some people who read Cannabis News read it at work because they don't have a computer at home. It is really only busy on a weekend when there is a big story and it runs thru the weekend. Here are the public stats and you can see if you look back the days that were on the weekend are much less. The weekends are a good time to do things so I think that is why. I'm sure some people are afraid and I understand. The private stats show the number of times an article is accessed and the numbers are running very high. http://www.cannabisnews.com/stats/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by p4me on October 27, 2001 at 20:23:45 PT: Are people afraid Are people afraid to post things on this site because they may be hunted down like rabied dogs? There are not that many comments, especially for a weekend night. I am just waiting to see what is in the Sunday paper and on the political talk shows on Sunday. Beware of the thought police. Vote against all incumbents all the way down to dog catcher. Out with the old and in with the new. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by john wayne on October 27, 2001 at 19:03:14 PT what federal agents say http://members.aol.com/deawatch/daily.htm25 Oct 2001, 22:28 PST, 6th Edition"It would be sheer folly to believe that there won't be agents in every Justice div who isn't already thinking up ways to (ab)use the new statutes for their own cases, regardless of any terrorist element. This prize is just too juicy to pass up.Nevertheless, I predict that these new 'privileges' our new Administration handed us on a fearful platter will come back to haunt us. Simply put, we... meaning every federal justice div... have too many morons who will screw up a wet dream. Just as we now have S&L's yanking leather jackets and boom boxes off sixteen year-olds caught with a roach clip under the supposed authority of "asset forfeiture", we will have agents who will use the new laws to go after organizations and people they don't like either for a case or for personal reasons. Alas... s**t always happens." [ Post Comment ] Post Comment