ASHCROFT PROPOSES SHAKE-UP OF AGENCIES

Details Sketchy; Congress Dubious

WASHINGTON -- Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft announced a "wartime reorganization
and mobilization" of the Justice Department on Thursday, saying he would
move 10 percent of the department's Washington workforce to the field and
spend roughly $2.5 billion more to fight terrorism.

In addition, Ashcroft wants to focus the FBI and Immigration and
Naturalization Service -- two of the department's highest-profile agencies
- -- on anti-terrorism efforts.

"When terrorism threatens our future, we cannot afford to live in the
past," he said. "The department will not be all things to all people. We
cannot do everything we once did, because lives now depend on us doing a
few things very well."

The plan submitted to Congress offered few specifics, and much of it was
fashioned from previous initiatives. But along with President Bush's speech
in Atlanta on Thursday, it appears to be part of a broader attempt to show
that the administration is taking strong action against terrorism.

Reorganization plans in Washington often face fierce opposition, especially
if the agency abandons some of its longtime missions, as Ashcroft suggested
would happen. Lawmakers wasted little time Thursday expressing their
reservations about the changes.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
urged the Justice Department to look more closely at its counterterrorism
failures before plowing ahead with an overhaul. "You cannot plan for the
future effectively without knowing what went wrong in the past," he wrote
Ashcroft.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) also was skeptical. "As with any
reorganization, the devil will be in the details," he said. "I hope for new
accountability measures, not just structural changes."

Ashcroft said the moves are crucial for the 125,000-employee department to
reshape itself into an efficient fighting force against terrorism. It
remains to be seen if the public's mood since the Sept. 11
attacks--nervousness coupled with a demand for strong action--will be
enough to overcome resistance to the proposed changes.

The attorney general said the United States has won a victory since the
Sept. 11 hijackings because there have been no additional terrorist
attacks, despite "two periods of extremely high risk." That was a reference
to the two nationwide alerts issued by the FBI.

"The home front has witnessed the opening battle in the war against
terrorism, and America has emerged victorious," Ashcroft said.

He suggested the lack of more terrorist acts was because of the nation's
heightened vigilance, but acknowledged there was no way of knowing for certain.

Those In For Changes

The Justice Department is made up of the FBI, the INS and the Drug
Enforcement Administration, as well as other components such as the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Bureau of Prison; the Civil Rights
Division; and the U.S. attorney's offices. It was not clear from Ashcroft's
announcement how money and employees would be shuffled in the reorganization.

In the meantime, specifics were left to the future. For example, pressed on
the declared goal of moving 10 percent of the Justice Department's
headquarters employees to the field, department officials could not say
where exactly they would go or even how many people would be involved. And
they described the 10 percent figure as a general goal, not a definite plan.

This is not the first time Justice Department officials have promised to
move people into the field. During his eight-year tenure, former FBI
Director Louis Freeh undertook a similar initiative, moving agents from
Washington to other locations across the country.

Department officials, however, could not say how the latest proposals would
fit into what Freeh had done.

In declaring his intent to save 10 percent of the Justice Department's
budget through streamlining and consolidation, Ashcroft provided no
details. The roughly $2.5 billion savings would be spent on
counterterrorism efforts, officials said.

"In today's Justice Department, multiple agencies perform similar
functions," Ashcroft said. "Within six months, we must have in place a
detailed plan to streamline, eliminate or consolidate duplicative functions."

Again, this is not the first time officials have announced such plans.
Shortly after taking office, some in the Clinton administration wanted to
merge the FBI and the DEA, two agencies many considered redundant. That
proposal was killed by passionate opposition from DEA supporters.

Refocusing Agencies

FBI Director Robert Mueller has been working for weeks on a proposal to
refocus his agency on fighting terrorism. The bureau now handles an
enormous array of federal crimes ranging from drug dealing to espionage to
terrorism to kidnapping.

The bureau's jurisdiction has greatly expanded over the past 10 years, and
the new plan, whose first draft is due by year's end, would reverse that
trend. Officials are expected to propose that the FBI leave certain routine
crimes to state and local police, which is likely to be controversial.

The plan to reform the immigration service has also been in the works for
some time, though it gained greater urgency after the Sept. 11 attacks on
the World Trade Center and Pentagon by terrorists, some of whom had visa
violations. Critics recommend splitting the agency, saying the
law-enforcement work of the Border Patrol is completely different from such
services as processing visas.

Ashcroft suggested Thursday that he was moving toward such a shift. If visa
processing is handled by another agency, he hinted, the INS could emphasize
law enforcement and concentrate on keeping out terrorists.

But immigration advocates fear this would lead to harsher treatment of
immigrants, and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said he would want to
scrutinize any such plan.

"The thumbnail sketch outlined today by Atty. Gen. Ashcroft warrants a
healthy amount of skepticism and caution before any steps are taken to
implement it," Gutierrez said. "It must be followed with strict and solid
assurances that immigrants themselves would benefit from such radical changes."

Meanwhile, an emergency rule allows the Justice Department to listen in on
the conversations between lawyers and their clients in federal custody
whenever deemed necessary to prevent violence or terrorism.

Ashcroft approved the eavesdropping rule last week. In a very small number
of cases, it permits the government to monitor conversations and intercept
mail between people in custody and their attorneys for up to a year. The
move is opposed by defense lawyers and civil libertarians who consider it
an unconstitutional attack on attorney- client privilege.