NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, June 21, 2001

Ashcroft said he ordered the review in "the spirit of enhancing the institutional integrity and performance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

The outline for the unprecedented review was contained in a memo from Ashcroft to Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, which was released by the Justice Department shortly after it was sent Wednesday.

The FBI has suffered through a lengthy series of public relations and institutional disasters over recent years. They include the arrest of FBI spy suspect Robert Hanssen in February and the withholding of more than 4,000 documents and pieces of evidence in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation.

The withholding of material, which should have been turned over to defense attorneys, caused Ashcroft to postpone the federal execution of convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh from May 16 to June 11 to allow those attorneys time to examine the material.

The withholding also exposed massive holes in the FBI's command structure and in its record-keeping capabilities.

In his memo to Thompson, who oversees the FBI, Ashcroft told his deputy that he wanted the department's new Strategic Management Council, or SMC, to "undertake a comprehensive review of the bureau, and by Jan. 1, 2002, submit recommendations to me for reforms within the FBI."

Thompson is the highest-ranking department official on the SMC, which was formed in May by Ashcroft to initiate long-range planning in the department.

Each member of the SMC "should identify and recommend actions dedicated to improving and upgrading the performance of the FBI, assisting the incoming director with the many challenges to be faced, and reinforcing the FBI's effectiveness as the premier law enforcement organization in the world," Ashcroft said.

FBI Director Louis Freeh is leaving the bureau this month, two years short of his full 10-year term.

In addition, Ashcroft asked Thompson to make sure that reports on investigations of the FBI by a special commission - headed by former FBI and CIA Director William Webster - and the inspector general's investigations of the Hanssen and McVeigh matters be turned over to the SMC by Nov. 1.

Ashcroft said he also wanted the SMC to "commission a management study of the FBI, by a private firm, to review policies and practices of the bureau including information technology, personnel, crisis management and performance appraisal" by Nov. 1.

In a move that might prove controversial within the bureau, Ashcroft said the SMC "should independently solicit input from other individuals and organizations, both internal and external, including Congress, who may have constructive ideas on reforming and improving the FBI."

Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Domestic Terrorism
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