Despite growing cooperation between U.S. law enforcement agencies since the September 11 attacks, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are still fighting over crimes involving explosives, said a new report released on Friday. The Justice Department's inspector general found that the ATF and the Federal Bureau of Investigation repeatedly fight over which agency will lead an investigation, have failed to meld information databases or coordinate training efforts. A 2004 memorandum by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was meant to clarify who was in charge for such cases, giving the ATF primary authority except in cases involving terrorism and those within the FBI's traditional jurisdiction. But that has caused confusion, giving each agency the ability to assert jurisdiction in almost every case, the report said, adding that a follow-up memorandum in 2008 also failed to sufficiently clarify the FBI and ATF roles. "Disputes between ATF and FBI personnel have affected working relationships and in some locations have resulted in their racing to crime scenes to determine which agency leads an investigation," the report said. It cited incidents as recent as last year when the FBI and ATF fought over who would investigate a suspect believed to have bombed the military recruiting station in Times Square in New York one early morning in March 2008. And in late 2007 the ATF said it was not notified about a pipe bomb found in a truck at a nuclear facility until hours after the FBI had already begun investigating, according to the report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine...read more
Bureacratic turf and appropriations are at stake, so to hell with public safety.
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