ONDCP Seal
 PolicyPolicy
Agency Budget Summary
line
Department of Justice

Interagency Crime and Drug Enforcement

I. Resource Summary

Resource Summary

Note: For FY 2000, the President's Budget request for the Department of Justice participation in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force program is $316.792 million and 2,960 FTEs. These resources are being requested in the direct budget of each agency, rather than by reimbursement from the consolidated appropriation account.

II. Methodology

  • The Interagency Crime and Drug Enforcement (ICDE) appropriation provides resources in support of Department of Justice agencies that participate in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Program. Given this, the resources are considered to be 100 percent drug-related.

  • The OCDETF Program directly responds to two goals of the Strategy Goal 2 "Increase the safety of America's citizens by substantially reducing drug-related crime and violence"; and Goal 5 "Break foreign and domestic drug sources of supply." The prosecution and research and development functions are fully devoted to Goal 2. The investigations and intelligencefunctions are split between Goal 2 (20 percent) and Goal 5 (80 percent).

III. Program Summary

  • The OCDETF Program constitutes a nationwide structure of nine regional Task Forces which utilize the combined resources and expertise of its member federal agencies, in cooperation with state and local investigators and prosecutors, to target major narcotic trafficking and money laundering organizations. The ICDE appropriation provided reimbursement to the Department of Justice agencies and components that participate in the program. In FY 2000, OCDETF funding is requested in the direct budget of the participating components.

  • The mission of the OCDETF Program is to identify, investigate, and prosecute members of high-level drug trafficking and related enterprises, and to dismantle or disrupt the operations of those organizations. Dismantle means to eliminate the criminal organization or break it up to the extent that reconstruction of the same criminal organization is impossible. Disrupt means to cause significant interference in the conduct of business by the targeted criminal organization.

  • The general goals of the OCDETF Program are:

    • Supplement federal resources for the investigation and prosecution of major drug trafficking and related organizations; and

    • Foster improved interagency coordination and cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of major drug trafficking and related cases.

IV. Budget Summary

1999 Program

  • The 1999 budget for the Department of Justice agencies participating in the OCDETF Program totals $304 million, 3,015 positions and 2,960 FTEs. These resources are used to reimburse the various Justice agencies for drug-related law enforcement programs in support of the following goals under the Strategy.

Goal 2: Increase the safety of America's citizens by substantially reducing drug-related crime and violence.

  • Program funding for Goal 2 activities totals $126.6 million and support the following:

    • Investigations. An estimated $41.5 million of the total $207.3 million in investigations funding in the OCDETF Program supports domestic investigations focused on the organized criminal drug trafficking and the breakup of organized criminal enterprises in the U.S. This includes the seizure and forfeiture of assets of organized criminal enterprises involved in narcotics trafficking.

    • Intelligence. An estimated $2.9 million of the $14.4 million in intelligence funding in the OCDETF Program supports domestic intelligence efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for Regional Drug Intelligence Squads (RDIS). The mission of the RDIS is to establish multi-agency squads to gather, analyze, and disseminate raw and processed data for strategic, tactical, and operational intelligence support of OCDETF investigations and/or potential OCDETF investigations. They also provide the regional intelligence linkage to the National Drug Intelligence Center and to respective agency headquarters. Squads have been established in the following cities: Los Angeles, New York City, Washington DC, Houston, Miami, Phoenix, Chicago, and Atlanta.

    • Prosecutions. $81.9 million in OCDETF funding is used to reimburse the U.S. Attorneys, Criminal Division, and Tax Division for their investigative support and prosecutorial efforts towards OCDETF cases. Litigation efforts are targeted selectively on the criminal leadership involved in drug trafficking and are intended to dissolve organized illicit enterprises. This includes activities designed to secure the seizure and forfeiture of the assets of these enterprises.

      A fundamental purpose of the prosecution effort is to apply limited federal prosecutive resources against those targets where successful prosecution can have the greatest and most lasting effect on the nation's drug abuse problem. The centralized and organized nature of the drug trade mandates that the federal law enforcement and prosecution establishment incorporate successful experiences in combating organized crime. It also extends the successful OCDETF concept of actively targeting and pursuing the highest level drug offenders.

    • Research and Development. Approximately $0.4 million in OCDETF Program funding provides reimbursement to the necessary research and development projects that support the various intelligence and investigative activities of federal law enforcement agencies.

Goal 5: Break foreign and domestic drug sources of supply.

  • Program funding for Goal 5 activities totals $177.4 million and support the following:

    • Investigations. An estimated $165.8 million of the total $207.3 million in investigations funding in the OCDETF Program supports investigations focused on organized international criminal drug trafficking and the breakup of those international organized criminal enterprises engaged in the drug production and trafficking.

    • Intelligence. An estimated $11.5 million of the $14.3 million in intelligence funding in the OCDETF Program supports international intelligence efforts by the FBI and the DEA. This intelligence data directly supports efforts to dismantle international drug production and trafficking organizations.

2000 Request

  • The President's Budget for FY 2000 proposes elimination of the ICDE appropriation account. Rather than continuing to reimburse agencies for the costs of their participation in the task forces, each agency will budget these resources directly in their appropriation accounts. Funding in the amount of $1.6 million (12 positions and 12 FTEs) is requested in the Criminal Division's FY 2000 request for OCDETF Executive Office program oversight functions.

V. Program Accomplishments

  • During 1998, the program had 1,356 new investigations or 88 percent more than in 1997 and 53 percent more than in 1992, previously the program's most successful year.

  • Currently 3,016 indictments/informations have been reported and charges lodged against 8,667 defendants. This represents an increase over 1997 of thirty percent in indictments/informations and seventeen percent in defendants charged. Reporting to date shows 4,945 defendants convicted and 4,417 sentenced to imprisonment.

  • Sentences imposed are significantly higher than for non-OCDETF drug defendants. In 1997, the percent of OCDETF defendants receiving life sentences (2.4 percent) was 4 times greater than non-OCDETF defendants. In 1998, OCDETF prosecutors achieved a conviction rate of ninety percent against approximately 1,000 drug trafficking organizations.

  • At present, OCDETF cases are being worked by nearly 2,600 federal agents and attorneys, with the assistance of state and local agencies. During 1998, nearly 700 state, county or local agencies participated in the program and approximately 6,100 of their officers provided support to OCDETF investigations.

line

1999 National Drug Control Strategy
Budget Summary		 Office of National Drug Control Policy