Squabbles Between ICE, FBI Affecting Terrorism Investigations

[babylonsister]

Squabbles Between ICE, FBI Affecting Terrorism Investigations
By Eleanor Stables, CQ Staff


Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are dropping terrorism investigations or steering them in other directions because they don’t want to work with FBI agents, according to a joint report by the inspectors general of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice.

ICE agents told the investigators they do not want to work with the FBI because of a variety of negative perceptions — mistaken perceptions, according to the IGs’ report — about cooperating with the bureau.

Agents told inspectors that “they or other agents drop leads that appear to have a terrorism nexus, or choose to ignore a terrorism nexus and select violations unrelated to terrorism, in order to continue case without FBI involvement,” says the report, which was requested by Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and released by his office this week.

In May 2003, DHS and DOJ signed a memorandum of agreement to coordinate the investigation of terrorist financing cases by ICE and the FBI. The agreement affirms the FBI is the lead agency on terrorist financing cases and produced a system for identifying and transferring ICE cases that have a connection to terrorism to FBI-led joint terrorism task forces (JTTF).

But “highly negative views and significant misinformation” about the JTTFs’ handling of terrorist financing cases under the agreement may be causing ICE agents to drop terrorism-related leads or cases, the report finds. “We encountered suspicion and hostility from ICE agents towards the , but their claims about the way the JTTFs operate were unfounded.”

more...

http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002572067.html

[porphyrian]

1. Good thing they created an entirely new branch of government to keep this from happening.

:eyes: