II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 534 

To bring the FBI to full strength to carry out its mission. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2007 

Mr. BIDEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To bring the FBI to full strength to carry out its mission. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Full-Strength Bureau 

5 Initiative Act of 2007’’ or the ‘‘FBI Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Throughout its history, the FBI has been 

9 an integral part of anticrime investigatory efforts in 

10 the United States. 


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1 (2) Since September 11, 2001, the FBI has lost 

2 substantial capacity and willingness to fight violent 

3 crime. 

4 (3) The FBI has reduced the goal of combating 

5 crime to number 8 of its top 10 priorities. 

6 (4) To meet its primary goal of combating ter7 rorism, the FBI has reprogrammed nearly 1,000 

8 agents from crime to counterterrorism cases since 

9 September 11, 2001. 

10 (5) While this reprogramming of agents to 

11 counterterrorism is necessary and proper, it has had 

12 the unintended consequence of precluding the FBI 

13 from adequately and satisfactorily discharging its 

14 traditional anticrime efforts. 

15 (6) The FBI’s shift to counterterrorism has re16 duced the Bureau’s involvement in traditional crime 

17 investigations, including— 

18 (A) fewer agents to the successful High In19 tensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task 

20 forces; 

21 (B) fewer violent crime cases, as the Bu22 reau has reduced the number of agents com23 mitted to Federal-State-local task forces like 

24 ‘‘Safe Streets’’ and Violent Crime Task Forces; 

25 and 


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1 (C) fewer agents handling bank robbery 

2 and white collar crimes, which involve technical 

3 areas of investigative expertise that State and 

4 locals often lack. 

5 (7) In testimony before the Committee on the 

6 Judiciary of the Senate, FBI Director Bob Mueller 

7 stated that the shortfall of agents has ‘‘required dif8 ficult choices in determining how to most effectively 

9 use the available agents’’. 

10 (8) This reprogramming has occurred at the 

11 same time that Federal assistance for State and 

12 local law enforcement has been decimated, including 

13 the elimination of the Office of Community Oriented 

14 Policing Services hiring program and substantial 

15 cuts to the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assist16 ance Grant Program under part E of title I of the 

17 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 

18 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et seq.). 

19 (9) Local police officials have decried this ap20 proach, and the results are becoming apparent, with 

21 the largest crime increase in 15 years according the 

22 2005 Uniform Crime Reports. 

23 (10) The preliminary Uniform Crime Reports 

24 for 2006, reported in December, have shown further 

25 increases in violent crime across the Nation. 


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1 (11) The FBI’s traditional anticrime investiga2 tions complement and assist investigations by State 

3 and local law enforcement around the country. 

4 (12) Through task forces and other more infor5 mal assistance, the FBI over the years has brought 

6 an invaluable expertise and resources to help state 

7 and local law enforcement in combating traditional 

8 criminal enterprises. 

9 (13) Even when factoring in assistance local 

10 law enforcement has received from the Department 

11 of Homeland Security, the International Association 

12 of Chiefs of Police has stated, ‘‘combined, the pro13 posed FY 2006 funding level for DoJ/DHS law en14 forcement assistance programs is $2.158 B. This is 

15 a reduction of $1.467 B or 40 percent from the 

16 combined FY 2005 level of $3.625 B. It represents 

17 a decrease in $2.55 B or 54 percent from FY 

18 2004.’’. 

19 (14) The FBI has the ability and the mandate 

20 to focus both on countering terrorist plots and fight21 ing traditional crime. 

22 (15) There does not need to be a trade-off be23 tween crime and terrorism, but this can only happen 

24 if the FBI is given the manpower to be able to do 

25 both. 


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1 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR MORE AGENTS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated 

3 $160,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 

4 2012 to fund 1,000 Federal Bureau of Investigation field 

5 agents in addition to the number of Federal Bureau of 

6 Investigation field agents serving on the date of enactment 

7 of this Act. 

Æ 


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