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The Department of Justice is charged with safe, secure, and humane confinement of detained persons awaiting trial, sentencing, or awaiting immigration proceedings. The need for Federal detention bed space has more than doubled in the last 5 years, from 32,000 detainees in 1996 to 67,000 detainees in the year 2001.

To enhance coordination, to manage the rising detainee population, and exercise financial control of Federal detention operations, which are currently the responsibility of the INS, the Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Prisons, the Office of Detention Trustee was created by Congress last year. That was a wise decision. As you recommended in the fiscal year 2002 conference report, our budget proposes to consolidate the $1.4 billion under the detention trustee to provide bed space for the anticipated detainee population in the custody of the Marshals Service and the INS.

For the Bureau of Prisons, our fiscal year 2003 budget seeks $348.3 million for additional prison activations and for the completion of construction previously authorized by Congress.

Finally, following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Congress passed and the President signed into law legislation establishing the September 11 Victims Compensation Fund of 2001. The value of approved claims through the fund is estimated at $5.4 billion through 2004. Our fiscal year 2003 budget reflects $2.7 billion in estimated victim compensation payments. In addition, the Department's budget includes a total of $41 million for the administrative costs of the fund's special master.

Mr. Chairman, as you well know, September 11, 2001, changed our Nation, redefined the mission of the Department of Justice. Defending our Nation and its citizens against terrorism is our top priority. To fulfill this mission, we are devoting all resources necessary to eliminate terrorist networks, prevent terrorist attacks, bring to justice those who kill Americans in the name of murderous ideologies.

Chairman Hollings, Senator Gregg, members of the subcommittee, what I have outlined for you is the principal focus of President Bush's fiscal year 2003 budget request for the Department of Justice. Our request builds upon the firm foundation laid by Congress in the days and weeks following September 11, a foundation of resolve backed by resources and American strength married to American purpose.

I want to thank you for your leadership and for the leadership of this subcommittee both in providing the Department critical additional funds in the wake of the terrorist attacks and in supporting the work that lies ahead.

And if I may, I would like to thank the members of your staff, those for whom we so rarely pause to offer public expressions of our gratitude, Lila Helms, Jill Shapiro Long, Dereck Orr of the majority staff, Jim Morhard, Kevin Linskey, and Katherine Hennessey of the minority staff. They all work on an ongoing basis with Justice officials and our staff at the Justice Department to enhance the safety and security of the Nation.

PREPARED STATEMENT

I thank you for your facilitation of this hearing and for your service to the American people and I want to thank them in the same

way. I look forward to working with you on this project proposal and other issues, and Mr. Chairman, I thank you for allowing me to make this statement.

[The statement follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JOHN ASHCROFT

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: I am both honored and pleased to once again appear before the members of this Subcommittee to present the President's budget request for the Department of Justice. For fiscal year 2003, the President's budget requests $30.2 billion for the Department of Justice, including $23.1 billion in discretionary funding and $7.1 billion for the Department's mandatory and fee-funded accounts. Included in the total amount requested is $548 million for Civil Service Retirement System and Federal Employees Health Benefits Program costs which are currently funded centrally through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The first and overriding priority of this budget supports the top priority of the department: to protect America against acts of terrorism and to bring terrorists to justice. The challenges we face are complex and unprecedented.

The Department's fiscal year 2003 budget seeks $2 billion for program improvements and ongoing activities funded in the fiscal year 2002 Counterterrorism Supplemental to support our number one priority. Resources are also requested to address several of the Department's other priorities, including: improving management of immigration services and enforcement; enhancing federal detention and incarceration capacity; reducing the availability of illegal drugs and supporting proven programs aimed at reducing drug use; providing services for the Nation's crime victims; addressing civil rights; providing streamlined resources to support state and local law enforcement; and legal representation and defense of U.S. interests. PREVENTING AND COMBATING TERRORISM, INCLUDING SECURING THE NATION'S BORDER In response to the heinous attacks on September 11, 2001, the full resources of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Attorneys offices, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Prisons, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Office of Justice Programs, were deployed to investigate these crimes and to assist survivors and victim families. In addition, to combat the threat of terrorism, I have directed the Department of Justice, including all 94 U.S. Attorneys' offices and 56 FBI field offices, to begin implementing the USA PATRIOT Act that was passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed by President Bush. This offensive against terrorism will enable law enforcement to make use of new powers in intelligence gathering, criminal procedure and immigration violations. With these new provisions, the fight against terrorism will have the full force of the law while protecting Constitutional civil liberties.

The world has changed dramatically since my last appearance before this Subcommittee. You have been instrumental in making sure that our government is poised both to respond to and prevent future terrorist attacks. I appreciate the support of this Subcommittee and that of the Congress in providing the necessary resources required by the Department of Justice to meet the challenges presented by terrorism and to improve the Nation's border security. The Counterterrorism Supplemental appropriation passed this fiscal year provided much needed resources to enable the Department to both prevent future attacks and investigate the terrorist attacks on our country. The fiscal year 2003 budget request that I present to you today builds upon this support and seeks to further enhance the Department's ability to prevent and combat terrorism.

Border Security

Illegal overstays of visitors and others coming temporarily into the United States pose a potential risk to homeland security. Overstays result in approximately 40 percent of individuals remaining in this country illegally. Currently, our Nation does not have a reliable system to track the entry and exit of these individuals in order to determine who may have overstayed. In addition, we do not have sufficient ability to detect, identify and locate short-term visitors who may pose a security risk to the United States. In the wake of September 11, 2001, the need is more urgent than ever to secure the safety of our citizens and our homeland. To secure gaps in our Nation's borders, we are proposing program improvements totaling $856 million and $187 million for ongoing activities funded in the fiscal year 2002 Counterterrorism Supplemental appropriation.

In addition, this budget will support an increase of over 2,200 new positions for INS. This request will enable the INS to deploy additional enforcement personnel together with advanced, state-of-the art technology and systems to better prevent illegal entry into the country, target individuals who threaten our safety, and thereby undermine the security of our Nation, and assist with non-citizens entering and exiting the United States. Components of the Border Security initiative include implementing a comprehensive Entry/Exit system, deploying force multiplying equipment, and integrating separate information systems to ensure timely, accurate, and complete enforcement data.

Our fiscal year 2003 budget includes a total of $380 million, of which $362 million is new funding, to provide initial funds for a multi-year effort to develop a comprehensive land, sea, and air Entry/Exit system for the United States. The new Entry/Exit system will provide enhanced information technology and upgraded facilities along our Nation's borders. This budget also increases personnel for INS to carry out its enforcement mission. For fiscal year 2003, we are seeking $141.3 million to hire 570 new Border Patrol agents and for other border security related increases; which would complete the addition of the 5,000 agents authorized by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 by the end of fiscal year 2003. This will increase the number of Border Patrol agents to a record level of more than 11,000 agents, more than double the level in 1993. Specifically, this request includes $76.3 million to hire, train, and deploy an additional 570 Border Patrol agents, $25 million to re-deploy approximately 285 Border Patrol agents to the Northern Border, $10 million for twin engine helicopters, $2 million for a comprehensive study of INS law enforcement compensation, and $28 million to enhance INS' ENFORCE database and processing system and add biometric equipment.

INS must balance its resources between its dual responsibilities of facilitating legal travel across our borders-tens of millions of people a year cross our bordersand detecting those who should not be allowed to enter the United States. To facilitate achievement of these goals in the post-September 11th world, our budget requests $85.9 million to enhance air, sea and land ports-of-entry inspections. These additional resources will enable the INS to hire, train, and deploy 700 additional inspectors to enhance security at air and sea ports-of-entry and 460 inspectors to enhance border security at land ports-of-entry.

The INS Intelligence program provides strategic and tactical intelligence support to INS offices enforcing the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and assists other federal agencies in addressing national security issues. INS intelligence efforts also support coordination of anti-smuggling/terrorism strategies with the FBI; completion of a U.S.-Canada bilateral common threat assessment among all concerned agencies on border zones' vulnerabilities; and increased automation in the intelligence collection and analysis process. The fiscal year 2003 budget includes an enhancement of 78 positions and $10 million to expand the INS intelligence pro

gram.

In the days following the September 11th terrorist attacks on America, homeland security received a new and urgent emphasis within the law enforcement community, including the INS. To provide the INS with adequate resources to meet this challenge, our budget requests $6 million to enhance INS' participation in Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF). JTTFs are a critical component of our coordinated law enforcement strategy. This funding will enable INS to enhance its support of the FBI's investigation into the September 11th terrorist attacks. These task forces conduct investigations of other foreign threats to national security and work cooperatively with other federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, placing particular emphasis on disrupting and dismantling terrorist cells and supporters in the United States by using criminal and administrative tools.

Our budget also seeks resources for additional legal positions to litigate special interest cases involving issues of terrorism, foreign counterintelligence, national security and other sensitive matters, such as cases involving human rights abuses. Special interest cases require multiple levels of coordination throughout the government, and attorneys must frequently work with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies both inside and outside the United States.

To effectively combat the terrorist threat that faces our Nation, the INS must have a sufficient physical and information technology infrastructure to support and protect its employees. To support our facility and security needs, the fiscal year 2003 budget includes an increase of $145 million for construction and an additional $13 million and 172 positions for security upgrades. The Department's construction request for INS will provide for the planning, design, and construction of INS facilities along the border. Many of the Border Patrol and Inspection facilities were built prior to the 1970's and cannot accommodate the tremendous growth in the number

of agents. The requested resources for physical security enhancements will allow INS to implement security improvements at 157 locations nationwide based on vulnerability to terrorist attacks and general security requirements.

Our fiscal year 2003 budget also seeks $83.4 million and 15 positions to expand and upgrade INS computer systems, including desktop computers, network servers, re-engineered data communications and enhanced computer security. INS data communications technology has not kept pace with increased demand. These resources are required to design, build and sustain an information technology infrastructure that can accommodate INS' steadily increasing workload and rapidly growing workforce. An additional $3.7 million is requested to fund training needs to expand fraudulent document training, curriculum development, materials and incidental expenses related to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

Enhancing the FBI's Counterterrorism Capabilities

As a result of the events of September 11, 2001, the FBI, with the cooperation of other Federal, state, local and international law enforcement, is currently conducting one of the largest criminal investigations in the history of the United States. Because of the support of this Subcommittee and that of Congress, the FBI was provided $745 million in the fiscal year 2002 Counterterrorism Supplemental appropriation for costs to respond to and investigate the September 11th terrorist attacks, including additional resources for Trilogy (the FBI's information technology upgrade program), the National Infrastructure Protection Center, Computer Analysis Response Teams, intelligence production, technical programs, and other programs. Given that Congress must consider myriad funding priorities, Director Mueller and I are very grateful for these additional resources provided to the Bureau. The men and women of the FBI continue to be on the front line of our Nation's efforts against terrorism, working in concert with other Federal, state and local agencies to prevent additional terrorist attacks and to bring to justice those who commit crimes against our citizens and our interests. The work of the FBI is critical to winning this war. Timely and useful intelligence is key to preventing terrorist attacks. The FBI's efforts to identify and neutralize terrorist activities require a comprehensive understanding of current and projected terrorist threats. In order to enhance the FBI's counterterrorism programs, our budget seeks $411.6 million in program improvements, including additional resources to enhance information technology projects, surveillance, intelligence, investigative and response capabilities, the aviation program, and security. Our budget also reflects $238 million in funding for ongoing activities funded in the fiscal year 2002 Counterterrorism Supplemental appropriation.

For information technology critical to the FBI's efforts to combat the threat of terrorism, our total budget request for the FBI includes an increase of $109.4 million to support several new and ongoing projects. These resources will support projects such as the FBI's efforts to scan and digitally store 5 million documents related to terrorist groups and organizations, data management and warehousing, collaborative capabilities, information technology support for Legal Attachés, continuity of operations for FBI Headquarters and offsite facilities, state-of-the-art video teleconferencing capabilities and increased staffing and funding to support FBI mainframe data center upgrades. Funding is also sought to perform necessary maintenance on enterprise-wide legacy systems, applications and the Trilogy network.

The FBI's Information Assurance initiative will unite security policies, procedures, technologies, enforcement, administration, and training into a comprehensive proactive program. Maintaining adequate system security safeguards is critical. Our budget includes $48.2 million in additional funding for this program. Our budget also seeks an additional $29.9 million to enhance other security programs at the FBI, including funds for headquarters and field personnel, security training and background investigations of personnel who are granted access to FBI information or facilities, guard services and other items.

The Department's fiscal year 2003 budget requests $61.8 million in additional funding to enhance the FBI's surveillance capability to collect evidence and intelligence. These resources will enhance both physical and electronic surveillance capabilities and enable automated sharing of information collected as electronic surveillance intelligence and/or evidentiary material.

Our budget also seeks $46.1 million for the FBI's aviation program to fund personnel, aviation assets and operational support. Resources are also sought to expand several critical components of the FBI's overall counterterrorism program, including $31.6 million to expand the FBI's response capabilities, $32.3 million to provide enhanced technical program support, $21 million to enhance the National Infrastructure Protection and Computer Intrusion Program's ability to respond to computer intrusions and threats, $7.7 million for additional analytical capacity throughout the

FBI, and $6.4 million for the FBI's Strategic Information and Operations Center and the New York field office's operation center.

The establishment of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) program has enhanced the FBI's ability to promote a coordinated effort among FBI field offices and their respective counterparts in Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in connection with terrorism investigations. Our budget seeks $15.7 million to support a total of 56 JTTFs throughout the country. Additional resources will fund rental space and renovation of offsite facilities, as well as operational expenses, such as state and local overtime and supplies. To continue support for the FBI's toll-free line for collecting tips from the public on suspected terrorist activities, an additional $1.5 million is included in our budget request.

Additional Enhancements To Counterterrorism Infrastructure

As accused terrorists are brought to justice in the Federal Court system, there will be a need for enhanced security measures. The United States Marshals Service protects the Federal Courts and ensures the effective operation of the judicial system. To support the heightened security measures at federal courthouses as a result of the September 11th attacks, our budget seeks $34.7 million to: (1) close security gaps at courthouse facilities which have the greatest physical security deficiencies; (2) provide security equipment for new courthouses and those undergoing significant renovation; (3) provide additional security personnel for terrorist-related court proceedings; and (4) provide security staffing to keep pace with the opening of new courthouses and the creation of new judgeships. To enhance the ability of the U.S. Marshals Service to participate in the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force program, we are seeking $2.4 million in fiscal year 2003. Nine million in additional funding also is being requested to provide increased security and detainee staffing along the Southwest Border.

Another critical element in our battle plan against the terrorist threat is working to develop and enhance interoperable databases and telecommunications systems for the Department's law enforcement activities. The pooling of information_resources capabilities can greatly increase efficiency and decrease the time involved in cases. For these efforts, our budget seeks $60 million to continue narrowband investment in radio infrastructure for key areas such as New York and along the Northern and Southwest borders. An increase of $23 million is also requested to continue the development and deployment of the Joint Automated Booking System and a joint fingerprinting system, that integrates INS' IDENT fingerprinting system with the FBI's IAFIS system. To support additional information and anti-terrorism physical security measures at the Drug Enforcement Administration, we are requesting $24.7 million.

The fiscal year 2003 budget request for the Department seeks $35 million in the Attorney General's Counterterrorism Fund to reimburse DEA's Special Operations Division for the cost of providing intelligence support to the FBI and other agencies conducting counterterrorism activities. This funding will complement the FBI's own intelligence capacity by providing additional collection and analysis capabilities to fight terrorists. For the Department's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, $2 million is requested to address an anticipated increase in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requests. The Department's budget request also includes $3 million to assess the vulnerability of chemical facilities.

Counterterrorism Coordination in the Department of Justice

Consistent with Section 612 of the Department's fiscal year 2002 Appropriations Act, the President's Budget includes a proposal to enhance coordination of the Department's counterterrorism efforts. Our proposal will consolidate this coordination effort in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. The budget includes a total of $2 million to fund a permanent cadre of well-qualified staff to support the Deputy Attorney General in coordinating all Department of Justice efforts to protect the United States against the threat of terrorism. Under the proposal, I have directed the Deputy Attorney General to be the individual responsible for coordinating all functions of the Department of Justice relating to national security, particularly the Department's efforts to combat terrorism directed against the United States. To assist the Deputy Attorney General in this effort, I am also establishing the National Security Coordination Council (NSCC) of the Department of Justice, which will be directed by the Deputy Attorney General. The NSCC will coordinate policy, resource allocation, operations, long-term planning and information sharing. The NSCC will also be a repository of expertise and a forum through which the Deputy Attorney General will be prepared to represent the Department in interagency forums. Mr. Chairman, we are committed to working with you, Senator Gregg and members of the Subcommittee to strengthen the Department's counterterrorism programs.

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