Hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee
June 8, 2004 Tuesday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING
HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
SUBJECT: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COUNTERTERRORISM EFFORTS
CHAIRED BY: SENATOR ORRIN HATCH (R-UT)
WITNESS: ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT
LOCATION: 226 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
SEN. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Mr. Attorney General, good to have you with us today.
ATTY GEN. ASHCROFT: Thank you.
SEN. DEWINE: The FISA statute is one of the most important weapons we have in the fight against terrorism. In fact, really, I'm not sure there's anything that the Justice Department does that's more important than administering the FISA statute. Unfortunately, it appears that we're still having problems with the FISA process. Now, on the plus side, it seems as though the Justice Department has been more aggressive in filing FISA applications, with the result that last year we saw a record number of applications, over 1,700 according to your testimony. Unfortunately, however, many applications are still sitting and waiting to be processed. The staff of the independent 9/11 Commission tells us, and I quote, "The application process nonetheless continues to be long and slow." And that process is still subject to, and again I quote, "bottlenecks."
Similarly, Mr. Attorney General, on May 20th, at the last FBI oversight hearing held by this committee, I asked FBI Director Mueller how well he thought the FISA statute was being utilized. Frankly, he seemed a little uncomfortable with the question, and he didn't want to go into much detail because some of the information, understandably, might be classified. But what he said was this, and it did-I must tell you, Mr. Attorney General, it was-I was very concerned by what he did say. And let me quote, and this is a direct quote. "We still have concerns. There is still frustration out there in the field in certain areas where because we've had to prioritize we cannot get to certain requests for FISA as fast as perhaps we might have in the past." End of quote.
So, you've got the independent 9/11 Commission saying that. You've got the FBI director, with his very candid comment to our committee. Other information that I receive indicates there's a bottleneck. You know, I understand that you're doing a better job, you've put more resources into this. But, governance is priorities. And I don't know anything that is more important that you all are doing than getting this FISA applications through.
And if I was a-somebody out in the field, and I had worked up a FISA application, and I thought it was the most important thing in the world, and I had worked it up, and I had everything lined up, and it was sitting there, sitting in Washington, and I couldn't get it through, I would be very discouraged. I think it has a demoralizing-it has to have had a demoralizing effect on the people out in the field. And, there's still a problem there. I mean, there is still a problem.
And I guess my question is what can we do, what can you do to put more resources on this? I just think, Mr. Attorney General, you've got a ways to go on this. And I just don't think there's anything more important that you're doing. And I just think you need to put more resources on it and prioritize this.
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SEN. DEWINE: That's correct.
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SEN. DEWINE: I understand you are.
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SEN. DEWINE: And Mr. Attorney General, my time is up, but I think that's just the point. I think you are prioritizing, and you have to, but I think it's dangerous when you have to prioritize. I think you're doing a better job. But all the information I can get indicates that we've still got a ways to go. I think you all can do a better job. And I just think that this-you need to put more resources on this. And I would just encourage you to put more resources on this. I don't know that there's anything more important you're doing in the war on terrorism. And I just, you know, I don't know how to say it any stronger, you've got to put more resources on this. You've got to do a better job.
And I thank you, sir.