(Archived Content)
"Statement of James F. Sloan, Acting Under Secretary for Enforcement
U.S. Department of the Treasury before the Senate Appropriations Committee
Subcommittee on Treasury and General Government"
Chairman Campbell, Senator Dorgan, and Members of the Subcommittee, I am pleased to be here today on behalf of Secretary O'Neill to introduce the FY 2002 budget request for the Department of the Treasury's law enforcement bureaus and offices.
Testifying with me today are the heads of each Treasury law enforcement bureau: Charles W. Winwood, Acting Commissioner of the United States Customs Service (Customs), Bradley A. Buckles, Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Brian L. Stafford, Director of the United States Secret Service (USSS), W. Ralph Basham, Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), William F. Baity, Deputy Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network FinCEN) and R. Richard Newcomb, Director of the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC).
In addition to presenting the FY 2002 budget request, I am also here today to discuss the most significant challenges we face in Treasury law enforcement. However, at the outset of my testimony, I want to thank the Members of this Subcommittee for their strong and continuing support for Treasury law enforcement. Because of your support in FY 2001, we experienced the largest increase in Treasury law enforcement staffing in over a decade.
This Subcommittee is aware of the fiscal challenges we continue to face. The FY 2002 budget request for $4.3 billion and roughly 30,000 FTE provides our Treasury law enforcement bureaus and offices the support needed to carry forward our challenging missions. Overall, the President's FY 2002 budget proposal would add roughly 900 full-time equivalent positions to Treasury enforcement above the FY 2001 total enacted level. For example, this budget will provide the ATF with an overall increase of 340 full-time equivalent agents, inspectors and other staff, and will be used to enhance our explosives, arson, and firearms enforcement efforts. For Customs, the FY 2002 budget request includes necessary funds to annualize the costs of 370 full-time equivalent positions associated with the FY 2001 enactment. These positions will further aid Customs in carrying out its very important drug and law enforcement missions.
All of our bureau heads will address their programs in greater detail today. I would now like to touch on a few of the highlights involving Treasury Enforcement.
Treasury Strategic Goal: Support the Achievement of Business Results
Departmental Oversight
In addition to funding, it is important that our law enforcement bureaus have clear policies and priorities. The Office of Enforcement continues to focus on providing support, oversight, and policy guidance to enhance the performance of our enforcement bureaus and provide strong leadership in the enforcement community.
Performance Results
As the Acting Under Secretary for Enforcement, along with my staff, I am working to ensure that the Treasury law enforcement bureaus' performance goals and measures conform to policy and that the bureaus strive to reach their identified targets. To that end, Treasury law enforcement bureaus are working hard to achieve the strategic goals and objectives identified in the Department's FY 2000 through FY 2005 strategic plan. Our law enforcement bureaus have improved in their overall performance as indicated by a comparison of our FY 1999 and FY 2000 results of the percentage of performance targets met by Treasury law enforcement bureaus and major offices.
|
FY 1999 Actual |
FY 2000 Actual |
FY 2001 Plan |
FY 2002 Plan |
|
64% |
77% |
82% |
85% |
We will continue to strive to improve as we work toward the achievement of our FY 2001 and FY 2002 performance measure targets. It is important, however, that we not set goals that we are sure to reach. Instead, even though we may not achieve all of our goals, we must set targets that challenge us. If the performance measure targets do not "stretch" our bureaus, we will not improve.
It is my view that the performance measures contained in our FY 2002 bureau performance plans will appropriately challenge us. However, I also recognize that we still have a long way to go in developing the best set of performance measures for our law enforcement bureaus. While this is true for all of our mission areas, such as protection, trade facilitation, and passenger processing, it is especially true for our traditional law enforcement mission. We will work within Treasury, with other Federal law enforcement agencies, and with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to develop the law enforcement measures to accomplish our operational priorities and achieve our agency goals more effectively.
Infrastructure
For our bureaus to accomplish their missions successfully, they need facilities that are safe and secure. They also need equipment that is up-to-date and reliable. We are working to meet these needs and thereby better serve the American people.
An example of this is the updated Customs Air and Marine Modernization Plan. This Plan is being cleared through the Department and will be forwarded to OMB and this Committee very soon. This Plan was prepared in response to a request by this Committee which, in noting the successes of the Customs Air and Marine Interdiction program, expressed its serious concerns surrounding the growing operational commitments associated with that success. Among other things, the Plan specifically addresses the Committee's concerns regarding the high cost of maintaining the fleet due to aircraft age and operational usage. The Air and Marine Modernization Plan includes a current description and status of air and marine assets and a strategic plan for replacing assets that have exceeded their useful life. To support this effort, the FY 2002 budget request includes a $35 million initiative for air and marine enhancements consistent with the Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act.
National Laboratory Center
The ATF National Laboratory Center (NLC) currently is located in a less than satisfactory commercial building in Rockville, Maryland, and a new government owned facility is being built as a replacement. In addition to the existing Forensic Science and Alcohol and Tobacco Laboratories, a new Fire Research Laboratory (FRL) will be part of the facility. In December 1999, ATF broke ground for its new NLC in Beltsville, Maryland. Once constructed, the new NLC will give ATF the kind of forensic and analytical science facility it needs to support firearms, explosives, and fire investigations, as well as to conduct testing that insures the integrity of regulated alcohol and tobacco products.
The FRL is a new addition to ATF's technical expertise that will directly support fire/arson investigations and complement ATF's on-going fire/arson investigation initiatives such as the InterFIRE Fire Investigation Training, the Certified Fire Investigator Program, and the Accelerant Detection Canine Program. It will be the only laboratory in the world solely dedicated to supporting fire/arson investigations and the resolution of arson related crimes and advancing the science of fire evidence analysis. For the first time, investigators will have a resource that can help them unravel the difficult problems associated with fire ignition and spread. ATF has established a memorandum of understanding with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to join forces on research into the measurement and prediction of fire and its effects, to share training and technology, and to conduct joint research and technical assistance tasks on matters of fire science.
ATF Headquarters
ATF Headquarters currently is located in a portion of a privately owned office building. In response to increasing safety concerns and capacity limitations, construction funds were provided for a new ATF Headquarters Building. The new building also will be the cornerstone of the redevelopment of the New York and Florida Avenue corridors in Northeast Washington, DC. We anticipate project completion in the spring of 2005. Due to the importance of this project, including the need to ensure the safety of our employees, senior policy officials are monitoring this project closely to ensure appropriate funding, and that it adheres to the original completion schedule.
FLETC Master Plan
The expansion in recent years in the number of employees hired by the 73 law enforcement agencies that participate in FLETC has stressed FLETC's ability to meet all the requests for training. Although FLETC continues to be able to provide all the basic training needed, by using a temporary facility in Charleston, South Carolina, increases in bureau hiring require coordinated increases in funding for FLETC.
Consistent with past practice, FLETC has submitted its five-year construction plan and updates to Congress. This so-called Master Plan captures how FLETC proposes to expand its Glynco, Georgia and Artesia, New Mexico facilities to ensure that long range demands for training can be met. Currently, FLETC is being challenged to expand facility capacities at its Glynco and Artesia centers to meet expressed U.S. Border Patrol training requirements. A temporary site is now being used in Charleston to provide a portion of basic training due to predicted Glynco capacity limitation. As you know, the Congress has requested that FLETC's expansion be completed in FY 2004, to eliminate the need for Charleston's use. FLETC's current Master Plan, identifies $83.2 million in construction requirements ($54.9 million over five years for Artesia and $28.3 million over five years for Glynco). To date, FLETC has received $39 million in appropriations and most of which has been, or will be, obligated by the end of FY 2001. Initially, the Border Patrol's training facility in Charleston was scheduled to close in FY 2004, with subsequent consolidation of all Border Patrol basic training at FLETC. Such a consolidation would generate $55 million in cost avoidance for new construction, and another $8 to $12 million annually would be saved by the Border Patrol in per diem cost, above original projected costs. FLETC and Border Patrol have forged a partnership to continue to make prudent decisions to achieve the consolidation as close to the original target date as possible.
FLETC's Cheltenham Facility
As part of its efforts to support Treasury's law enforcement bureaus, the Office of Enforcement identified a need for a firearms requalification range facility in the greater Washington, D.C. area for Treasury and other law enforcement personnel. To address this need, in March 2000, an interagency working group was formed to conduct a feasibility study to determine the possibility of establishing a consolidated training facility in the Washington metropolitan area. The study attempted to find an available location that would meet the following criteria: (1) government owned property, (2) sufficient acres to allow growth, (3) within the D.C. metropolitan area, and (4) suitable buffer areas between neighboring residential or commercial property. We have identified a site in Cheltenham, Maryland, that meets these criteria, and thanks to the support of this Committee and Congress, we have $30 million to build the facility. Although there is ongoing litigation about the site, we hope to be able to move forward soon.
The availability of a FLETC operated dedicated firearms and a vehicle operations requalification facility will promote optimum quality, quantity, and cost effectiveness for all law enforcement agencies in the greater Washington, D.C. area. While the original working group consisted of six Treasury law enforcement agencies -- ATF, USSS, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), FinCEN, Customs, and FLETC -- we now have over 29 agencies interested in using Cheltenham, including the U.S. Capitol Police.
Human Resources
We recognize, however, that the most modern facilities using the latest technology are useless if we are not able to recruit and retain high caliber personnel. We have taken a number of important steps to strengthen our workforce.
Treasury Law Enforcement Study
The FY 2000 and FY 2001 House Appropriations Committee Reports expressed concern about available Treasury law enforcement resources and infrastructure issues. In response, the Department of the Treasury, in coordination with the Office of Personnel Management, engaged a human resources management/consulting firm to prepare a series of issue papers. The issue papers involve senior executive service staffing; economy of scale/technology; human resource planning and workforce productivity; quality of work life; external funding; and training. In addition, I am pleased to inform the Committee that, as identified below, Treasury also conducted a series of complementary studies. Together, these efforts outlined the issues and challenges facing Treasury's law enforcement bureaus. More importantly, the contractor has proposed strategies and next steps to help ensure that they will have the human and technical resources necessary to meet mission demands now and in the future. For certain, additional work will be needed to address the overall aspects of this endeavor.
There are many challenges that compel us to focus on these issues including an increasingly more demanding and complex operating environment, highly sophisticated and complex criminal activities, growing use of the internet, globalization, and the requirements to do more and having to do it with less.
The contractor's report contains recommendations for next steps in a number of areas, some of which are listed here. However, it is important to note that this report does note connote Administration policy.
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Topics |
Issues |
Next Steps |
|
Senior Executive Service Staffing Levels |
SES slot allocation; actual number of SES slots needed to carry out the law enforcement mission. |
Develop proposal for achieving additional SES slots. |
|
Technology and Economy of Scale |
Importance of technology in Treasury Law Enforcement Bureau's work; use of complex technology by criminals. |
Review technology needs in the context of the new administration's goals and bureau strategic plans. Develop plans for dealing with the insertion of new technologies. |
|
Optimizing Staffing in Field Offices |
Staffing of core occupations; reviewed each bureau's organization, workforce, workload, and work processes. |
Develop pilot offices; determine needed workforce profiles; and assess the costs. |
|
Workforce Competencies and Compensation |
Focus on workforce competencies and compensation |
Determine competitive levels of compensation and benefits. |
|
Quality of Work-Life |
Issues that positively and negatively affect employment (e.g. assignment to hardship posts). |
Invest further study and attention into critical quality of work-life issues. |
|
Topics |
Issues |
Next Steps |
|
External Funding and Partnerships |
How the Bureaus can partner with external organizations, such as commercial industry or trade associations, to help meet anticipated resource requirements. |
To further develop the best ideas through a multi level review process. |
|
Training |
Identification of training needs that cut across bureaus; process for development of joint training; strategies for integration of programs into bureau specific curricula. |
Enhance current efforts to facilitate inter-bureau training and the use of technology |
Further investments may be warranted to capitalize on many of the ideas and strategies proposed from both the external and internal efforts from this project.
Hiring and Agent Staffing
Retention of employees who have years of experience and in whom we have invested long hours of training is critical. In that regard, the Department has made progress toward meeting the challenges of improving our capacity to develop and retain high-caliber employees. Specifically, we have worked to address workforce retention and workload balancing issues with the aforementioned comprehensive studies. The analysis confirmed that agents and other core occupations are experiencing increased travel, longer working hours, and shortages in technologically current equipment. However, I am pleased to note that several FY 2001 initiatives are being continued in FY 2002, and with the Committee's support this will enable us to respond to these challenges effectively.
Senior Executive Service (SES) Allocations
Allocation of SES positions within Treasury law enforcement bureaus is of vital concern to our present and future leadership planning. This represents one of our highest cross-cutting human resource priorities. This is one of the topics addressed in the contractor's report, as noted above.
Demonstration Pay Project
The Demonstration Project was established to enhance the Department of the Treasury's ability to recruit, develop, and retain highly qualified non-agent scientific and technical law enforcement personnel. It seeks to do so by implementing changes in personnel management practices for designated occupations. ATF recently launched its pay demonstration project for scientific and technical positions. The Demonstration Project emphasizes flexibility in approaches to recruitment, and establishes a pay-for-performance system designed to provide incentives to compete with state and local government and the private sector. ATF's Demonstration Project consists of more than 250 employees within 13 divisions and includes occupations such as computer science, fingerprint analysis, firearms enforcement, document analysis, engineering, integrated ballistic information system specialist, firearms and tool making.
Paybands, a performance appraisal system, performance-based bonuses and pay increases, and certification and licensure bonuses are some of the interventions being used to develop a higher performing workforce. By all counts, I am confident that this effort is a good barometer of the future for all of the Federal government.
As required by law, we recently provided the Congress with the Demonstration Project Interim Evaluation Report. It provides an assessment of the effectiveness of the project. The interim findings and conclusions state that participating employees are paid more and that they want to continue with the Project. They recognize the link between pay and individual performance. The Report also notes that management needs to make improvements to the performance appraisal system and improve communication to achieve Treasury objectives. Because the interim recommendations were made after just one year's experience with the human resources interventions, this project needs to be extended to fully assess its effectiveness. Our extension request is included in the President's April 9, 2001 budget. We thank the Subcommittee for its support on this project, as we look forward to completing the research and making this capacity permanent.
Improving the Office of Enforcement
We also are working to improve the Office of Enforcement. In March, the General Accounting Office completed its report on the Office of Enforcement, entitled Department of the Treasury: Information on the Office of Enforcement. In addition to making a number of constructive observations, the report recommended that the Under Secretary for Enforcement "strengthen internal control by developing a policies and procedures manual to ensure that the policies and procedures on the circumstances under which the bureaus interact with Enforcement are clearly defined, documented and readily available for examination by bureau officials and others." I want to assure you that we have begun to review our policies and procedures and develop a plan to comply with this recommendation.
Technology
It is especially important for Treasury law enforcement to define and pursue strategies that ensure adequate technological resources are available to support our law enforcement missions and bureaus. Computers and the Internet are an integral part of an ever-increasing number of criminal activities investigated by Treasury bureaus. We have seen computer-generated and computer-assisted fraud dramatically increase. Criminals, in the furtherance of their illegal schemes, frequently utilize hardware and software tools developed for the benefit of businesses and consumers.
Because of the competitive nature of Internet-based financial services, the focus is on speed, "24/7" access, and ease of use; all of which make the job of the "cyber criminal" a little easier. The Internet also provides the anonymity that criminals desire. Alarmingly, the Internet contains thousands of sites dedicated to all types of criminal activity. "Hacking" sites describe the methods for making intrusions into financial, telecommunications, and government systems, and allow the necessary "tools" to be downloaded directly to the perpetrator.
For just about every new technology that is found to be useful in the conduct of criminal endeavors Treasury law enforcement will have to make a decision on countering these technology related thrusts and find ways to master the relevant technologies. Without continuous technical upgrading and training, the criminal element may acquire an advantage over law enforcement in the fast growing areas of cyber-crime and communications countermeasures. We must meet this threat with technology, knowledge, and law enforcement personnel who have true mastery of these offensive or defensive tools to thwart, control, or reduce crime. Technology infusion and managing technology obsolescence, though at times resource draining, are essential tools for maintaining the decisive edge for the enforcement and protection mission. As noted earlier, we are planning to conduct a follow-on review of law enforcement technology needs and technology strategies to support the new administration's goals.
Meeting Our Strategic Goals
Of course, the purpose of focusing on our infrastructure, human resource and technology needs is to enhance our abilities to meet our law enforcement missions. Treasury's law enforcement bureaus have a distinguished record of service. We are committed to building on this record and achieving even greater performance.
Treasury Strategic Goal: Combat Money Laundering and Other Financial Crimes
Money Laundering and Financial Crimes
The Office of Enforcement and the Treasury enforcement bureaus continue to lead the U.S. government's efforts in the domestic and global fight against money laundering and related financial crimes. Treasury continues to author the National Money Laundering Strategy in conjunction with the Department of Justice. This strategy aims to attack not only the proceeds of narcotics trafficking, laundered, for example, through the Black Market Peso Exchange system, but also the illicit proceeds generated by child pornographers, trade fraud, terrorists, arms traffickers, and those who defraud the elderly.
FinCEN and the Treasury enforcement bureaus continue to work to improve feedback to the industry regarding the utility of the Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed by financial institutions. SARs are a critical component of law enforcement's ability to detect and combat money laundering. Many investigations are made or enhanced through the use of a SAR, and we are working with industry to help them understand better how law enforcement uses SARs through "The SAR Activity Review," published under the auspices of the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group. SAR review committee groups are being established in the major metropolitan areas to prevent duplication of investigative efforts.
Treasury Enforcement leads the U.S. delegation to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and its project to identify Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCTs). In addition to contributing actively to the FATF NCCT effort, Treasury has informed our domestic financial institutions about the risks posed by the 15 NCCT jurisdictions identified by FATF last June. FinCEN has issued formal advisories to alert U.S. financial institutions to specific deficiencies in the counter money laundering regimes in these 15 jurisdictions and to encourage our institutions to apply enhanced scrutiny to transactions involving them. Treasury has worked both with our allies and with officials from the NCCTs themselves to correct the shortcomings in law, regulation, and practice that elevate the risk of money laundering activity in these locales. We are pleased with the progress being made in many of these named jurisdictions and feel that it is directly attributable to this FATF exercise. We believe that the second round of NCCT reviews, scheduled to be completed by June, will have a similarly beneficial result.
Money Service Business (MSB) Regulatory Program
In the United States we are continuing to move forward on several fronts to strengthen the nation's anti-money laundering program. A little more than a year ago, FinCEN issued a final rule requiring registration of money services businesses -- money transmitters, check cashers, money order and traveler's check businesses, and currency exchangers. The new rules will allow law enforcement authorities for the first time to have a firm idea of the size and location of the 200,000 or so entry points into the financial system that those businesses can represent. FinCEN has also issued a final rule requiring suspicious transaction reporting by money transmitters and money order and traveler's check businesses; that rule is also currently scheduled to take effect at the beginning of next year.
Our priority is ensuring a smooth and effective implementation of both the registration and suspicious activity reporting rules, taking into account what we learn during this critical implementation period. A delay in the effective date of suspicious transaction reporting might be helpful to assure smooth sequencing of the new obligations, but no final decision has been made on this point.
During this implementation period, FinCEN is conducting an extensive outreach program to educate the MSB community about their registration and reporting obligations. On-going consultations are taking place with MSB industry representatives and a series of focus group meetings have been held in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. In addition, FinCEN is working closely with the Internal Revenue Service, a key partner with respect to oversight compliance by the MSB industry, to ensure that an enforcement and compliance infrastructure is in place by the time the SAR regulation takes effect.
White Collar/High Tech Crime
Treasury's enforcement bureaus also protect our children from on-line pornographers, enhance the safety of worldwide e-commerce, and enforce the intellectual property rights of U.S. industry from unscrupulous pirates. Treasury's law enforcement agents are recognized leaders internationally in the fight against high-tech crime in all of its manifestations; routinely provide important investigative and forensic assistance to their state and local law enforcement colleagues; and have earned the respect of the private sector industry through their effective handling of cases. Treasury agents have, for example, prevented a computer hacker from shutting down an on-line stock trading service and tracked and captured a hacker who caused the catastrophic shutdown of a medical diagnostic facility's computer network and communication system. Treasury maintains a Department-wide initiative to ensure that all of its law enforcement bureaus have a technically skilled and highly equipped set of agents to investigate these type of cases, and has deployed nearly 200 Computer Investigative Specialists (CISs) throughout the nation. The CIS program ensures that Treasury agents can handle evidence in whatever media it is stored. Treasury's enforcement jurisdiction in an increasingly high-tech and wired world.
Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE)
Treasury's counter-narcotic efforts have both a domestic and international dimension. Our initiatives to combat the BMPE, the largest money laundering system in the Western Hemisphere and the primary conduit for Colombian drug cartels, are a good example of this approach. Anecdotal law enforcement evidence, informant statements, and other evidence suggests that between $3 - $6 billion is laundered annually using the BMPE system.
Three years ago we established a multi-agency BMPE Working Group which has developed and implemented an aggressive strategic plan to combat this form of money laundering. The Money Laundering Coordination Center ([MLCC] created and operated by the Customs Service has proven instrumental in fighting the BMPE), is designed to synthesize intelligence from investigations targeting the BMPE. Housed at FinCEN, the MLCC has proven instrumental in fighting the BMPE. Combating the BMPE is a law enforcement priority.
In addition to these law enforcement efforts, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice have developed and implemented an aggressive outreach program to make the U.S. business community knowledgeable of the operations of, and their vulnerability to, the BMPE system. Treasury and Justice are working with business leaders in their efforts to develop, adopt, and implement money laundering compliance programs and best practices guidelines that will aid their companies in avoiding BMPE transactions.
To promote awareness of the BMPE process and its detrimental effects on the global economy, Treasury has created the International BMPE Exchange Task Force. This Task Force is comprised of experts from Aruba, Colombia, Panama, United States, and Venezuela who will examine the operations of the BMPE as a money laundering system and will recommend policy options and actions that can be taken to effectively detect, deter, and prosecute BMPE money laundering.
Treasury Strategic Goal: Protect Our Nation's Borders and Major International Transportation Terminals From Traffickers and Smugglers of Illicit Drugs
Counter-Narcotics
The Southwest Border (SWB) between the U.S. and Mexico continues to provide a significant challenge to Treasury's law enforcement operational mission. In FY 2000, 293 million people, 89 million cars and 4.5 million trucks entered the United States from Mexico. This immense and growing volume of traffic represents an opportunity for those who would violate U.S. law, making control of our borders and ports of entry essential. Government estimates continue to indicate that nearly two-thirds of the cocaine entering the U.S. comes across the SWB.
Multiple government agencies are tasked with maintaining the flow of legal migration and trade while protecting the United States from the smuggling of drugs, illegal aliens, and other contraband. Customs has primary responsibility for ensuring that all movements of cargo and passengers that enter the United States comply with Federal law. Customs is also the lead agency for investigating and preventing drug smuggling into the U.S.
The challenges we face are significant and complex, but not insurmountable. Working through the Border Coordination Initiative, we have improved our law enforcement capabilities along the SWB. Under Treasury and Justice enforcement guidance, and with significant emphasis on interagency cooperation and locally developed innovation, we have improved port coordination, intelligence gathering and enforcement. We have also enhanced communication, coordination, and operational effectiveness of federal law enforcement while still facilitating the movement of legitimate commerce across the SWB.
Plan Colombia
Since mid-1999, Treasury Enforcement has participated in efforts to assist the Government of Colombia in efforts to stop narcotics production and trafficking in that country. The $1.3 billion "Plan Colombia" was passed by Congress to assist that. The Office of Enforcement has played a major role in the development of the components of that Plan and the contributions in support of its implementation.
The Plan Colombia legislation included funding for Treasury programs, including $68 million for upgrading the radar in the Customs P-3 fleet, $2 million for OFAC sanctions activities, $1 million for banking supervision assistance, and $500 thousand for tax revenue enhancement. Funds provided to the State Department for assistance and training programs are also being used by Treasury bureaus to train the newly-formed Colombian Customs police force, to support Customs Americas Counter Smuggling Initiative and to provide maritime enforcement and port security assistance.
In addition Treasury's enforcement bureaus - ATF, Customs, IRS-CID, USSS, and FinCEN - under the Office of Enforcement's lead, have developed plans to participate in a variety of law enforcement efforts such as enhancing the Colombian financial intelligence unit and thwarting the BMPE and other money laundering, smuggling, and counterfeiting activities.
Treasury Strategic Goal: Reduce Violent Crime and the Threat of Terrorism
Firearms Violence
We remain dedicated to reducing firearms violence through ATF's enforcement of the firearms laws. The President's budget permits ATF to maintain this enhanced level of effort and move forward with its comprehensive strategy to reduce violent crime.
As Director Buckles' will discuss in more detail during his testimony, the IVRS sets forth an aggressive three-part plan to reduce gun violence by coordinating ATF's firearms enforcement efforts to: (1) identify, investigate, and recommend prosecution of violent criminals and others who illegally use, possess, or attempt to acquire firearms; (2) deny access to firearms for criminals and others who cannot legally possess them through fair and careful regulation of the firearms industry and proactive investigation of illegal traffickers of firearms; and (3) break the cycle of violence and prevent firearms crimes through community outreach. ATF has enjoyed significant success in implementing this strategy. For example, in FY 2000, ATF's efforts led to the conviction of 1,595 armed career criminals, armed drug traffickers, and other violent or prohibited persons who used, possessed, or attempted to acquire firearms. The President's budget request for ATF will enable us to build on this success.
Counterterrorism
The President's FY 2002 budget seeks resources that will enable Treasury to continue to apply its unique expertise and assets to the federal government's efforts to combat terrorism. Treasury's wide-ranging counterterrorism responsibilities include preventing the unlawful traffic in firearms and explosives, protecting the President and other officials, enforcing the laws controlling the movement of assets, and enforcing the laws relating to exports from or imports into the United States of goods and services. In short, Treasury enforcement bureaus have the legal authority and the essential expertise to perform missions that are critical to the security of the United States, including:
- ATF has primary jurisdiction for the prevention of unlawful trafficking in firearms and explosives. ATF conducts over 90% of all federal bombing investigations and maintains the Federal National Repository on Bombing Incidents.
- Customs is the guardian of our nation's borders. It's counterterrorism mission is twofold: protect our nation from the introduction of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and
prevent international terrorists from obtaining WMD materials , technologies, arms, funds to support their activities. Customs enforces the laws and regulations that directly relate to the responsibilities entrusted to the Department of the Treasury under Presidential Decision Directive 39. These violations include the smuggling of contraband into the United States; the illegal export of licensable technologies and arms; violations of international sanctions, embargoes and related money laundering statutes. Customs places special emphasis on violations that involve international terrorists, rogue regimes pursuing WMD development programs, and countries which support international terrorism.
- The FLETC offers a variety of programs aimed at assisting federal, state and local authorities in their efforts to combat terrorism.
- FinCEN unique ability to "follow the money" strikes at the very heart of terrorist organizations. Through the use of a wide array of databases, FinCEN is able to reveal complex financial networks supporting terrorist activities.
- IRS-CI provides the expertise to deter one of the primary means of funding for terrorist organizations-tax fraud. The financial expertise of IRS-CI is best utilized in the investigation of various tax schemes, money laundering and the creation/use of illegal tax-exempt organizations.
- OFAC administers United States economic sanctions against foreign governments and organizations that support terrorism. OFAC's sanctions prohibit any financial transactions or dealings with terrorist sponsoring countries and foreign terrorist organizations and provide the blocking of assets of terrorist countries and entities by Treasury.
- The United States Secret Service (USSS) protects our nation's leaders, the White House complex and certain foreign dignitaries. In addition, the USSS is now the lead agency for the design, planning and implementation of security for events that have a high potential for attracting terrorist activity. The National Security Council proposes to the Attorney General and Secretary of the Treasury events to be designated National Special Security Events. Additionally, the USSS protects our financial infrastructure through its investigations of counterfeiting, forgery, bank fraud, access device fraud computer intrusion, telecommunications fraud, false identities and fictitious instruments.
National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC)
The Secret Service NTAC develops and provides threat assessment training and conducts operational research relevant to public official, workplace, stalking/domestic, and school-based violence. The NTAC provides assistance to other federal agencies, as well as other state, local agencies and organizations interested in developing threat assessment programs.
Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking
Congress provided funding in FY 2001 for OFAC to develop a Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking (FTAT) Center. The FTAT Center will be responsible for developing government-wide strategies to counter terrorist fundraising and to incapacitate their financial holdings within the US, and to assist other countries to employ similar strategies. Such strategies will bring to bear the full weight, influence, and authority of the federal government -- regulatory, diplomatic, defense, intelligence, and enforcement communities. Several agencies with counterterrorism responsibilities have committed to participate in the FTAT Center -- by providing the FTAT Center with all relevant information, by detailing specialists to analyze the data, and by appointing special liaisons to cement the constant interaction of the member organizations. OFAC is now hiring the FTAT Center's permanent staff and is working with participating agencies to identify detailees and liaisons.
Treasury Strategic Goal: Protect Our Nation's Leaders and Visiting Dignitaries
Winter Olympics
The President's FY 2002 budget identified a $51.6 million resource need to support the FY 2002 Olympic requirements for Treasury law enforcement bureaus. This assumes 1,681 law enforcement officers will be needed to carry out the security plan. An additional, 300 support personnel will be provided. Most of the costs incurred during FY 2002 will be for travel and overtime directly related to the games. However, costs will also be incurred to continue the operation of several coordinating centers, to conduct additional contracted training, for miscellaneous contractual service, to purchase cold weather clothing and to move employees out of Salt Lake City at the conclusion of the Olympics. The number of law enforcement officers from Treasury bureaus is projected at 1,075, with the remainder of 606 to come from outside of Treasury.
The Secret Service is the lead federal agency for designing, planning, and implementing security for designated National Special Security Events (NSSE). The 2002 Winter Olympics has been designated an NSSE and will occur February 8-24, 2002, in 15 major sporting event venues in and around Salt Lake City. In addition to providing a secure environment for the Olympic athletes and for spectators from all over the world, the Secret Service will also be responsible for providing security for numerous foreign heads-of-state/government, who attend Olympic events. The Secret Service will also provide security for the President and Vice President of the United States while they participate in the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as, any Olympic competitions they may decide to attend.
In addition to NSSE requirements, Treasury enforcement is a member of the Public Safety Utah Command. ATF has the responsibility to assist in the following activities: (1) prevent, detect and respond to arson and explosives activities; (2) provide bomb "render safe" technicians, explosives detecting canines, tactical special response teams, and tactical emergency medical technicians; and (3) provide intelligence analysis of threat data, as well as firearms and explosives tracing.
The Customs core mission responsibilities focus on the entry of equipment, cargo, and individuals participating or attending the games. The primary emphasis will be on the enforcement of intellectual property right violations of Olympic merchandise and antiterrorism efforts on the Northern Border.
Treasury Strategic Goal: Provide High Quality Training For Law Enforcement Personnel
To address some of the strain from increased demand for training, we have been exploring ways to use the latest technology to provide alternative means of delivering training courses. Recognizing that the FLETC facilities cannot accommodate all of the requests for training that are likely to arise in the future, we are searching for ways to use the Internet and video conferencing to provide needed training.
Likewise, the need for advanced training to keep law enforcement officers abreast of the latest trends in fighting crime is critical. We have been working closely with FLETC to explore ways to enhance training to address high-tech crime. One example of this approach is Computer Investigative Specialist (CIS) 2000 training. This course, which includes agents from the Secret Service, Customs, the IRS-CI, and ATF, uses state-of-the-art training and equipment to teach agents how to deal with the latest computer and encryption technology that they may encounter in conducting an investigation. The CIS 2000 agents have achieved many notable successes in their investigations of counterfeiting, money laundering and various types of fraud as a result of this course.
Treasury Strategic Goal: Maintain U.S. Leadership On Global Economic Issues
Trade Enforcement and Facilitation
In the area of Regulatory and Trade Enforcement our goals have been to ensure that laws affecting trade and regulated industries are effectively enforced without unnecessarily burdening legitimate commerce. An effective means of realizing both goals is through targeting enforcement actions and extending the capabilities of our finite manpower with automated information management systems. We have also pursued international standardization of trade regulation as a means of enhancing enforcement cooperation while reducing the burden on business. The FY 2002 budget request includes $130 million for continued work on the Customs Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and $123 million for life support for the antiquated Automated Commercial System (ACS). Developing the ACE system is vital to Customs ability to effectively carry out its trade and other enforcement missions.
Conclusion
In this statement I have been able to touch on only some of the important programs of Treasury's enforcement bureaus. Each bureau head will address our programs in greater detail. And, of course, I shall be pleased to respond in writing to any questions you want to direct to me about any of our programs.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, again I would like to thank you, Senator Dorgan, and the other Members of this Subcommittee for your support of Treasury's law enforcement programs. Our law enforcement bureaus have grown, they are better equipped, and they have become more professional as a result of your oversight and support.
I also would like to thank the staff of this Subcommittee for its professionalism and patience not only this year, but also in past years. We have wrestled with the problems that inevitably accompany growth and a rapidly changing set of challenges. I do not want to miss this opportunity to express my appreciation and gratitude.