FBI METH AGENTS STAY IN VALLEY

They Will Not Be Reassigned From Fresno, Modesto And Bakersfield.

WASHINGTON -- Sacramento-based FBI officials have assured Congress they
have no intention of cutting the bureau's anti-methamphetamine campaign in
the San Joaquin Valley.

That means the bureau's five special agents assigned to the High Intensity
Drug Trafficking Area program will remain at their posts in Modesto, Fresno
and Bakersfield.

"We constantly reassess our assignments, but we don't have any plans a to
reduce our commitment to HIDTA," FBI spokesman Nick Rossi said Friday.

A similar message was conveyed privately this week in a conversation
between Rep. Gary Condit, D- Ceres, and the acting special agent in charge
of the Sacramento office.

Condit called the newly assigned agent, Richard Baker, following a report
in The Bee that consideration was being given to reassigning some of the
Valley's agents focusing on fighting meth. In a subsequent letter sent
Tuesday, Condit sought to lock in the commitment he received from Baker.

"I hope you understand that your statement that such a transfer was never
contemplated or under consideration is very much appreciated," Condit
wrote. If anything, Condit added, "the number and amount of federal
resources and manpower should be dramatically increased."

Thursday, though advised of Baker's assurances, Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford,
and several House colleagues, along with Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein
and Barbara Boxer, wrote their own letter to FBI Director Louis Freeh
urging that the bureau's anti-meth commitment remain intact.

Dooley's press secretary, Adam Kovacevich, said "we were still concerned"
that the possibility of reassignments hadn't been definitively ruled out
and that "we wanted to make clear" congressional interest in keeping agents
at their posts.

The FBI still was drafting its formal response to the joint congressional
letter Friday. The apparently resolved staffing question, though, still
leaves open other meth matters.

HIDTA received $1.5 million in federal funds last year to help coordinate
anti-meth efforts in a nine-county region. For next fiscal year, California
lawmakers are asking for $5 million to aid the task force that's been
credited with taking down at least 56 meth labs and 221 suspects.

The Bush administration's budget outline proposes adding $20 million to
help clean up meth laboratory sites nationwide, and another $28 million to
help law enforcement officials target meth.

Though 90% of the nation's meth production is thought to come from
California, the precise division and final amount of federal funding has
yet to be decided.