METH FIGHTERS FEAR POSSIBLE FBI CUTBACKS

Two months after officials convened an extraordinary summit to plead for
help from the federal government in fighting methamphetamine trafficking in
the Central Valley, Sacramento's new FBI chief is reassessing efforts in the
area.

No final decisions have been made, but law enforcement sources say Richard
Baker, acting special agent in charge of the Sacramento FBI office since
February, has suggested in recent weeks that he might remove some FBI agents
from the 2-year-old High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, known as HIDTA.

The possibility of such a move has enraged some Central Valley officials,
who say a cut in federal help would be coming at precisely the wrong time,
just as state, local and federal authorities finally have come together to
fight meth trafficking in the area.

Nearly three dozen federal, state and local agencies stretching from
Sacramento to Bakersfield have pooled resources to combat methamphetamine
production -- considered the Valley's most severe drug problem -- by
targeting meth labs and trafficking rings. Five FBI agents are specifically
assigned to the task force, with backup from more than a dozen others who
also work drug cases.

Baker declined to be interviewed about the situation, but FBI spokesman Nick
Rossi said no decisions have been made.

"We do recognize that meth is a serious problem in Central California and
we're not abandoning our commitment to HIDTA," Rossi said. He added, "HIDTA
is only one part of our commitment to the drug war."

Rossi said that although "at this time there is no plan to reduce our
commitment to the HIDTA," the agency will continue its "regular assessments
of our manpower" allocations.

Area drug enforcement officials say that as Baker has made the rounds of
local law-enforcement agencies in recent weeks he emphasized that he wanted
to focus more resources on Colombian drug traffickers in Sacramento.

That redirected focus puzzles some drug enforcement officials, who say
methamphetamine trafficking remains the biggest problem.

Concerns over the possibility of cuts multiplied at a law-enforcement
seminar Wednesday in Sacramento, where word spread quickly about the FBI's
reassessment. That concern led HIDTA Chairman Les Weidman to call Baker to
express his concerns, he said.

"He tells me he understands the methamphetamine concerns and he plans to
stay fully involved and committed," said Weidman, the Stanislaus County
sheriff, said of Baker.

But even the suggestion of federal cutbacks in a program area officials had
fought for years to assemble put drug enforcement leaders on high alert.

"As far as I know, he is still just acting (special agent in charge), so
this is all premature," said Bill Ruzzamenti, the task force director. "We
would be concerned if, in fact, the commitment lessened, because the overall
federal commitment isn't very strong."

The Central Valley HIDTA was created in 1999 after officials made a
concerted pitch to Washington to focus on the area's growing methamphetamine
problem.

The task force oversees an area from Sacramento to Kern County and includes
32 federal, state and local agencies. The group had seized nearly 300 pounds
of methamphetamine by last summer and arrested 221 suspects, officials say.

The Central Valley task force is one of 28 nationwide aimed at drug
enforcement. In January, officials made it clear they were committed to
expanding efforts against meth and Gov. Gray Davis included a $50 million
allocation in his latest budget.

A January summit convened in Fresno included participation by then-U.S.
Attorney Paul Seave, both of California's U.S. senators, four congressmen
and state Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

During that summit, there was a great deal of focus on the relatively scant
federal contribution to the HIDTA, and area law enforcement sources say
efforts were under way in recent months to expand FBI participation.

Lockyer and others have lobbied Congress and Davis to increase funds to
combat meth because it has become such a serious problem.

"It's not enough for us to be the nation's highest meth producer, we have to
be the highest in the universe?" Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin said.

Sources said efforts to expand the FBI presence on the task force stopped
when James Maddock, who had been special agent in charge of the Sacramento
office, was removed from his post and replaced by Baker.

Baker came to Sacramento from the bureau's Washington headquarters, and
sources say he has made it clear that he wants to be appointed to the
Sacramento position on a permanent basis.

He also has taken steps to avoid any sort of public profile, sources say,
because of the perception that Maddock's removal came in part because he had
become such a prominent local figure.

Area law-enforcement leaders said privately that they hope Baker's scrutiny
of the meth deployment is merely part of an effort to get a handle on
staffing in each area overseen by his office's 125 agents.

Currently, of the five FBI agents directly involved in the task force, two
are based in Bakersfield, two in Modesto and one in Fresno, Ruzzamenti said.

There are a total of 14 FBI agents assigned to help combat drug trafficking
from Stockton to Bakersfield, officials say, and any decisions about how to
re-allocate them are difficult.

"He has to make some hard choices," Ruzzamenti said of Baker. "My impression
is that he's waiting to learn as much as he can."