|
|
 
Agency Budget Summary
Department of Justice
Criminal Division
I. Resource Summary
II. Methodology
- The Criminal Division's drug budget figures are derived by estimating the level of involvement of each component in drug-related activities. Within each of the drug-related decision units, each component is required to estimate the percentage of work/time that is spent addressing drug-related issues in relation to the goals and objectives of the Strategy. This percentage is then applied against each component's overall resources to develop an estimate of those resources dedicated to counternarcotics activities.
III. Program Summary
- The Criminal Division programs support Goal 5, "Break foreign and domestic drug sources of supply" of the Strategy. Several components of the Criminal Division are involved in this effort.
- Organized Crime and Racketeering Section (OCRS) efforts go towards destroying the major trafficking organizations by convicting and incarcerating their leaders. OCRS resources are used to ensure that indictments are properly secured, that organized crime cases are prosecuted, and that overall organized crime prosecution policies are developed and implemented.
- The Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS) develops innovative investigative and prosecutorial methods, enhancing the effectiveness of federal, state, and local law enforcement task forces. The Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section is intimately involved with efforts towards prosecuting the organizations and individuals behind drug production and trafficking, both domestically and abroad.
- The Office of International Affairs (OIA) promotes interdiction efforts through bilateral and multi-lateral agreements. These agreements lay the groundwork for enhanced intelligence sharing, and cooperation towards interdiction strategies. OIA helps identify and cement relations with those countries who have the political will to stop traffickers from using their national territories to produce or transport narcotics.
- The Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section (AFMLS) provides legal advice and assistance in the conduct of civil and criminal forfeiture litigation and the development of policies which incorporate asset forfeiture into an overall law enforcement program.
- The Office of Enforcement Operations (OEO) oversees the use of the most sophisticated investigative tools a the Department's disposal, including electronic surveillance and the Federal Witness Security Program. The Office provides legal advice to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies on the use of the federal electronic surveillance statutes, and assists in developing Department policy on emerging technologies, telecommunications issues, and witness protection operations.
- The Appellate Section supports the Division's counternarcotics activities by reviewing acquittals and appealing adverse decisions in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and in the Supreme Court.
IV. Budget Summary
1999 Program
- FY 1999 drug-related resources total $30.2 million and 239 FTEs. These resources are used for prosecution and international support activities, which support Goal 5 of the Strategy.
- In addition, the Criminal Division anticipates receiving $0.8 million in reimbursable funding for its OCDETF activities.
2000 Request
- The FY 2000 drug control budget request is $35.8 million and 263 FTEs. This represents an increase of $5.6 million and 24 FTEs over the FY 1999 enacted level. Of this increase, 2 FTEs result from annualizations; 18 FTEs (including 12 FTEs for the Executive Office for Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces) relate to the transfer of ICDE resources to the Division's base appropriation; and 4 FTEs correspond to the following Narcotics Initiative:
- $1.1 million and 13 positions (including 9 attorneys) to support the Special Operations Division (SOD) of DEA. The SOD is an interagency working group that focuses on the most complex, highly classified projects. This group is stepping up its activity and NDDS projects it will need additional staff to assist the SOD in managing these complex cases. This request also includes additional staff for the Office of International Affairs to support the extradition of overseas fugitives, and for the Office of Enforcement Operations to address the increasing number of Title III wiretaps.
V. Program Accomplishments
- In June 1998, NDDS working with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, indicted major Southwest Border Investigation targets Jesus and Luis Amezcua Contreras on drug trafficking charges. The charges include operating a continuing criminal enterprise to manufacture and distribute tons of methamphetamine and conspiracy to possess ephedrine with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. The U.S. will seek their extradition from Mexico where they were recently arrested on Mexican drug and tax charges, with the Mexican drug charges being subsequently dropped.
- In an OCDETF case in the Western District of Texas, an NDDS trial attorney successfully prosecuted two defendants for their involvement in a drug trafficking organization responsible for the transportation of more than one ton of marijuana and 300 kilograms of cocaine into the U.S. through El Paso, Texas from a Juarez, Mexico based cell of the Amado Carrillo Fuentes drug trafficking organization.
- The Department has also launched the Southwest Border Forfeiture Initiative supported by NDDS to supplement current efforts targeting the forfeiture of real estate and other properties that have been illegally obtained or used to facilitate trans-border trafficking of drugs and illegal aliens.
|
