Hearing of the House Judiciary Committee: FBI Oversight
Statement
REP. ROBERT SCOTT (D-VA): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Director, for appearing with us today.
There are a number of questions, and the format we have is insufficient to get into an in-depth dialogue on all the issues that we want to get into. So we'll just mention those, and hopefully we'll get responses -- many of the responses in writing from you on the issues.
In addition to those articulated by the chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee, there are several others that we'd like to get a status report on, one of which is the contractor abuse.
There are, apparently, billions of dollars unaccounted for in Iraq, and we understand that there is some -- there are some investigations going on as to whether or not crimes were committed as a result of that. And hopefully we can follow up on that.
As you know, another issue involves torture and prisoner abuse. It's my understanding that the FBI has been fairly good on this issue, having a protocol that does not allow agents to torture. But there seems to be some evidence that agents were there when others were not so restrained, and we'd like some information on that.
On background checks, the FBI database, according to a 2006 Department of Justice report, indicated that for approximately 50 percent of the records, the final disposition information was not there -- so that a person who was arrested would have the arrest show up on the record, but the subsequent exoneration would not show upon the record.
We'd like to see what we're doing or what we need to do to make the background check information is as up to date as possible.
On the mortgage fraud issue, obviously, today and yesterday it's a very high priority. Trillions of dollars are obviously being lost in the stock market as a result of potential crimes that have been committed and mortgage fraud. If money has been lost, somebody's made the money, and we want to find out what progress has been made on mortgage fraud.
On identity theft, when we passed the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act several years ago, we allocated $10 million to the Department to track down identity theft. And we'd be interested to know what is -- what kind of progress we're making on that.
Over the weekend, "60 Minutes" reported on a problem in laboratories involving ballistic tests, the reliability of some ballistics tests, and suggested that there may be some in jail today based on tests that have subsequently been found not to be reliable. We'd like to see what we are doing to make sure that justice prevails in that situation.
Finally -- two other issues. We have had many complaints about crimes being committed by United States persons over in Iraq, and jurisdiction and who would prosecute such crimes has been the issue.
Has the FBI actually followed through, investigated and prosecuted crimes that are committed by U.S. persons abroad?
And finally, in the civil rights area, does the FBI have jurisdiction and an interest in voter fraud cases? For example, if registrars are illegally discouraging voters from registering, does the FBI have jurisdiction over those kinds of cases?
I look forward to your responses, either here today or in writing later, to those issues and the ones that the gentleman from New York mentioned.
And with that, I appreciate, Mr. Chairman, the opportunity to be here today, and yield back the balance of my time.
REP. SCOTT: Thank you.
And thank you, Mr. Director.
With concern about the upcoming election that it be fair, it looks like every indication, at least several states, it will be extremely close. So we want to make sure there's no problem. If someone were running a voter scheme to violate your right to vote, would that be something the FBI would have a jurisdiction over or an interest in?
MR. MUELLER: We would. I'll tell you that we have a person steeped in election law, and every one of our field offices will be alert at the time and before the election. I won't go so far to say we've got a task force, but we have people standing by in the course of each election to respond to complaints along those lines. And we do it in conjunction with the Department of Justice.
REP. SCOTT: And if voter registrars, for example, were giving out information that was inaccurate, would that be something in discouraging people from registering to vote? Would that be something the FBI would have an interest in?
MR. MUELLER: I would have to look specifically at the statutes. But my assumption would be that, with the Department of Justice, it's something we would examine, depending on the intent and, quite obviously, the facts of the situation.
REP. SCOTT: Thank you. You're familiar with the report that was on "60 Minutes" over the weekend about ballistics tests?
MR. MUELLER: Yes.
REP. SCOTT: Apparently at the time the report was given, there were people in jail based on evidence that has subsequently been found not to be reliable.
REP. SCOTT: What is the jurisdiction of the FBI over the prison -- Federal Prison Industries?
MR. MUELLER: I don't think it's a question of jurisdiction. I do believe that it's a question of a purchase of furniture from Prison Industries that has been an issue. And as to that, I know when it was raised before I went back to our legal counsel and to the purchasing department to make certain that we are maximizing the -- our ability, under the law, to look at the purchase of furniture from the Prison Industries, and we have followed the law with regard to those purchases.
REP. SCOTT: Is that an -- is the Federal Prison Industries an important agency, as far as the FBI is concerned?
MR. MUELLER: My understanding is it's part of the Bureau of Prisons, quite obviously. And we are close to our sister agency. But, we have to follow the law when it comes to purchases, understanding the desirability of assisting the Bureau of Prisons in providing work for its inmates and producing furniture that could be sold.
We have to -- whatever purchases we make, have to be done according to the applicable purchasing regulations.
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