FBI'S TERROR INVESTIGATIONS LEAVE LESS TIME FOR DRUG CASES

Report Also Says Flaws Still Haunt Visa System

WASHINGTON -- Nearly half of the FBI agents who once handled drug cases are
now concentrating on the fight against terrorism, a shift that has caused
concern in Congress about a possible lack of attention to the nation's
crime problems.

The General Accounting Office, in testimony yesterday to a House committee,
found that the number of FBI field agents dedicated to drug crimes had
dropped from about 1,400 in the fall of 2001 to just over 800 today. The
overall number of new drug investigations by the FBI has fallen from 1,825
in 2000 to 944 last year and just 310 in the first half of this year.

Representative Hal Rogers, Republican of Kentucky, told FBI Director Robert
Mueller at a House Appropriations subcommittee meeting that the shift could
be "leaving a big hole in America's fabric."

"We still need the FBI for the old traditional things that the FBI has
always done," Rogers said.

Mueller acknowledged that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, resulted
in a drastic shift in the FBI's priorities. He cited the permanent
reassignment of 674 agent positions to counterterrorism and
counterintelligence from their work on violent crime, white-collar
investigations, and drugs.

In a seperate report to the committee, congressional investigators said
about 30 suspected terrorists may still be in the United States because of
continuing flaws in the county's visa program and poor communication
between federal agencies.

The GAO, in a report, said that while the government revokes visas of
suspected terrorists, there is often little effort to find and remove those
people from the country.

And the weaknesses in the visa revocation process "increase the possibility
of a suspected terrorist entering or remaining in the United States," the
GAO said.

The GAO reviewed the 240 visas revoked by the State Department between
Sept. 11, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2002, on terrorism grounds, and found that 30
individuals entered the country before the revocation and may still be
here. Another four individuals entered the United States after their visa
was revoked, and one of those may remain in the country.

In many cases the State Department failed to notify the FBI or the
Immigration and Naturalization Service of the visa revocation or did so
days later.