Investigation Into the Lack of Coordination Between Federal Agencies

INVESTIGATION INTO THE LACK OF COORDINATION BETWEEN FEDERAL AGENCIES

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, last week NBC News aired a report indicating that suspected terrorists had been granted American citizenship or permanent residency at the same time they were under investigation by the FBI for their involvement in terrorism. This well-researched piece reached the warranted and troubling conclusion that this occurred despite advance knowledge within the Department of Justice.

The NBC report revealed an alarming and dangerous lack of coordination between Federal agencies. The NBC piece parallels credible allegations that first came to my attention in January.

As the chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, to followup on these allegations, I have made repeated requests of the Department of Justice for information that would allow my committee to assess this potentially serious threat to our national security.

We have a saying up in Maine: You can't get there from here. You may have heard it, Mr. President. But when it comes to travel in my home State, it is not really true. The roads may be winding, and the route may not be all that direct, but with persistence and patience, you can always get where you need to go.

However, when it comes to dealing with the Department of Justice on this very serious matter, it seems that you cannot get anywhere. I have been persistent, but my patience has pretty much run out.

The allegations that I received in January were these: In the course of investigating foreign-born individuals for terrorism-related offenses, the FBI learned that some of these individuals were in the process of applying for naturalization or permanent residency.

FBI agents requested permission to share that critical important information with the INS. Their FBI supervisors, however, refused those requests. This information has been confirmed by NBC News's chief investigative reporter, Lisa Myers, in her thoroughly researched piece that aired last week.

My requests to the Department of Justice for information that would define the size of this alleged hole in national security and of this possible gap in interagency cooperation have been refused repeatedly.

I have modified my requests in order to accommodate the specific objections raised by the Department. My modified requests have also been refused due to new objections or, in some cases, old ones simply rephrased.

Here is a brief travelogue of my 10-month journey in the bureaucracy of the Department of Justice: On January 21, shortly after these allegations came to my attention, I wrote to the FBI Director, Robert Mueller, and asked that he provide the committee with the names, dates of birth, INS registration numbers, and start dates of investigations of all persons who have been the subjects of terrorism investigations from September 10, 1991, through September 10, 2001, in the 15 largest FBI field offices. I asked to have this information delivered to my office by February 4.

Well, I received no response at all until February 28, when I received a reply from the Department categorically denying my request. The primary reason cited was that the Department had a longstanding policy of not providing Congress with information about people who have been investigated but not prosecuted.

Among the other supporting reasons were the separation of powers and-I am not making this up, Mr. President-a concern that providing Congress with information that could help it understand and remedy a situation so potentially damaging to our Nation's security could, and I quote, "gravely damage the nation's security."

The Department did offer, at that point, to work with me to see if there was an alternative. I eagerly took the Department up on that offer, and I wanted to try to accommodate whatever legitimate concerns the Department might have.

Thus, my staff talked repeatedly with the Department during the next few months to craft a mutually agreeable alternative approach.

On May 21, I submitted another much narrower request proposing that the Department of Justice would conduct its own review, a review I would think that the Department would be very eager to conduct once this threat was brought to the Department's own attention. Moreover, the length of the review would be reduced from a decade to 5 years, and the scope would be reduced from 15 field offices to just 5.

Now, by this time, of course, the INS had been moved from the Department of Justice to the new Department of Homeland Security.

It had been renamed as the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. I suggested the FBI provide the results of its internal review to the BCIS so it could determine who had been granted citizenship or permanent residency while they were being investigated for terrorism. Again, I would think the Department would be very concerned about the serious breakdown and lapse in communication and would be eager to review its own files to quickly uncover the names of individuals who might have become citizens or permanent residents while they were under investigation for terrorism-related activities.

After months of negotiations between my staff and the Department's staff, I believed I had finally come up with a solution that addressed all of the Department's concerns.

On July 3-keep in mind how much more time has yet elapsed-I received a reply. Much to my astonishment, the answer once again was no.

Two new concerns were raised: First, when the FBI and the INS were part of the same overall Department of Justice, they could share information for this purpose legally; although, as we well know, they didn't. Now that they are in two different departments, the Justice Department claims the Privacy Act prevents the sharing of this critical information.

The second reason advanced was the FBI simply did not have the time or resources to review its own files. Again, keep in mind how important it is for the Department to know how many people were in this situation where they were under investigation for terrorism and yet received either American citizenship or permanent residency. I would think the FBI, on its own volition, would be eager to retrieve that information.

At this point some of my Senate colleagues may be asking themselves a few questions, if they have had some experience with congressional oversight. First, hasn't the Justice Department many times in the past provided Congress with information such as interview summaries and documentary evidence related to individuals who have been investigated but not prosecuted? Second, does this refute the Justice Department's argument about a supposedly sacrosanct longstanding policy? Would such a policy, if it existed and were adhered to as strictly as the Justice Department now asserts, exempt the Justice Department from effective congressional oversight? The answer to these questions is obvious.

Although the Justice Department would not review its own files to discover the extent of this problem and to document whether terrorists had been granted citizenship or permanent residency, its officials have indicated in writing to me that this likely occurred.

Let me expand on that point. The Justice Department is not refuting the basic premise. In a July 3 letter I received from the Department, from which I want to quote, it says:

We appreciate the Committee's interest in the question of whether individuals were naturalized or received permanent residence status while they were subjects of foreign counterintelligence investigations and, in fact, we have indicated in conversations with Committee staff our belief that this likely occurred prior to September 11, 2001. We do not have data to support this view, but based upon our knowledge of how Bureau and then-Immigration and Naturalization Services systems interfaced, we do not dispute the premise.

This is serious. In other words, suspected terrorists most likely received citizenship or permanent residency in the country they swore to destroy because the FBI and the INS did not talk to each other. This is extraordinary.

During my negotiations with the Department of Justice, I had suggested the Privacy Act concern the Department raised could be dealt with if the FBI passed the sealed findings of their review through my committee which then could, in turn, pass the findings along to the BCIS. That wouldn't work, Justice said, because it would violate-you got it-their longstanding policy against providing information to Congress about investigations that did not result in prosecution.

If you think we have been driving around in circles, you are right. The Justice Department refuses to provide my oversight committee with information because of a "longstanding policy." We suggest a way around that longstanding policy, and the Department cites the Privacy Act. We suggest a way to avoid the Privacy Act concerns, and we find ourselves back to the longstanding policy.

This is simply unacceptable. We know some terrorists and supporters of terrorism seek out the protective guise of American citizenship. We know a lack of coordination between the relevant agencies allowed this unacceptable situation to occur. What we don't know is how many times it has happened, how broad this problem is, how many people are involved and, most important of all, what has been done to stop it, to close that communications gap.

The Committee on Governmental Affairs will pursue this matter by continuing its investigation. I have again written to the FBI Director to request the records needed by the committee. I have now focused my request on those individuals who were named in the NBC report. It is not a burdensome request. It is not an onerous request. It is a request that is very specific, time limited, and narrow in scope. There is no reason for the Department of Justice not to promptly turn over these documents to the committee.

I want to acknowledge those courageous FBI agents who wanted to do the right thing, tried to do the sensible thing, who said: Let's share this critical information, when they discovered suspected terrorists were trying to become American citizens or permanent residents. It is deeply disturbing that in some cases their supervisors did not listen to them. It is deeply disturbing that bureaucracy trumped national security and common sense.

I invite those agents to step forward again to make their concerns known by contacting my committee. We will listen, and we will act.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.