Você está na página 1de 93
 
(1)
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RE-LATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2016
THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015
U.S. S
ENATE
, S
UBCOMMITTEE OF THE
C
OMMITTEE ON
 A 
PPROPRIATIONS
,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in room SD–192, Dirksen Sen-ate Office Building, Hon. Richard C. Shelby (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Shelby, Boozman, Capito, Lankford, Mikulski, Feinstein, Shaheen, Coons, Baldwin, and Murphy. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE F
EDERAL
B
UREAU OF
I
NVESTIGATION
 
STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES B. COMEY, DIRECTOR
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR RICHARD C
.
SHELBY 
 Senator S
HELBY 
. The subcommittee will come to order. We wel-come all of you to today’s open session of the Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee hearing on the Department of Justice fiscal year 2016 budget request for Federal law enforcement agencies. I want to welcome first our four witnesses, Federal Bureau of In-vestigation (FBI) Director James Comey, U.S. Marshals Service Di-rector (USMS) Stacia Hylton, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Todd Jones. They will later each testify about their agency’s 2016 budget request. This morning, I want to begin by thanking the men and women of the FBI, the Marshals Service, the DEA, and the ATF, who work every day to protect this Nation. We are indebted to them and grateful for their service and their sacrifice. In particular, I want to express my condolences to the family of Deputy U.S. Marshal Josie Wells, who was killed in the line of duty on Tuesday while participating in a fugitive task force in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Deputy Marshal Wells was attached to the Marshals’ Southern District Office in Mississippi and had duti-fully volunteered for this recent task force. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and the entire Marshals Service community for their loss here. The constantly changing landscape of criminal activity at home and abroad has challenged the Justice Department’s ability to deal with emerging threats. We expect our Federal law enforcement
 
2 agencies to be more nimble and sophisticated than the criminals and terrorists they pursue. The goal of this joint law enforcement hearing is to determine how the 2016 budget would give each law enforcement agency the tools and the capabilities needed to tackle those changing threats, whether they are cyberattacks, drug trafficking, financial fraud, or terrorism. I believe our Federal law enforcement agencies must work to-gether, particularly in tough budget environments, to target limited resources in a manner that safeguards taxpayers’ dollars while pre-serving public safety. The FBI’s mission includes protecting and defending the United States against terrorism and foreign intelligence threats, fighting cybercrime, as well as tending to traditional criminal activities, such as violent crime, public corruption, and white-collar crime. In order to carry out these priorities, the FBI’s 2016 budget request is $8.5 billion, which is an increase of $47 million above the 2015 enacted amount. In the past year, we have seen terrorist threats and increased cyberattacks. I believe it is imperative that the FBI appropriately balances the bureau’s diverse responsibilities while targeting the highest needs and criminal threats facing our Nation. The Marshals Service has the honor of being America’s oldest Federal law enforcement agency. The Marshals provide judicial se-curity, apprehend fugitives, protect witnesses, and transport pris-oners, among other important duties. The 2016 budget request of $2.7 billion for the Marshals Service is $100 million less than the 2015 enacted level of $2.8 billion. The funding reductions are large-ly isolated to the Federal Prisoner Detention account. I want to hear how the 2016 budget request will allow the Mar-shals Service to continue its critical missions for the pursuit and arrest of fugitive sex offenders who are targeting our children. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2016 budget request to-tals $2.5 billion. The agency serves a central role in our society, working with domestic and international partners in enforcement of controlled substance laws and regulations of the United States. In addition, the DEA’s Diversion Control Program prevents, de-tects, and investigates the diversion of controlled pharmaceuticals and listed chemicals. This mission is critical with prescription drug abuse arguably being the country’s fastest growing drug problem. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is tasked with combating the illegal use and trafficking of firearms, the illegal use and storage of explosives, and acts of arson and bombings, among other crime-fighting roles. ATF’s 2016 budget re-quest is $1.3 billion, which is $60 million above the 2015 level. I am interested in how the agency would use this increased fund-ing, particularly in light of recent complaints from hunters and sportsmen who believe that ATF overstepped its authority by at-tempting to ban certain ammunition for recreational use. I look forward to hearing the views and explanations of our four witnesses regarding the details of their 2016 funding request to-tals, and working with our subcommittee members to prioritize the necessary funding for our Federal law enforcement agencies.
 
3 Now at this point, I would like to recognize my friend and col-league, Senator Mikulski, the former chairwoman of the sub-committee.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR BARBARA A 
.
MIKULSKI
 Senator M
IKULSKI
. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for this hearing today and really bringing the full complement of Federal law enforcement before the subcommittee, not only to review their budget, but so that we could first of all truly express our apprecia-tion. And we do appreciate every single man and woman who works for the agencies represented here today, who are so much valued and so much appreciated. And they should know that. I think we need to be able to do that in three ways. Number one, give them respect. Make sure we respect them and respect the sac-rifices they do and their families do every single day while they are often away protecting us. Number two, let’s have the right resources, and let’s make sure we don’t do another sequester where FBI agents were digging into their pocket to pay for gasoline, and DEA agents were wondering what they could do to do their job, and while we were looking at sequester, how we go after the sexual predators while we were pro-tecting the judges.  And, of course, for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), that wonderful lab in Ammendale that does this incredible forensics, not only what you are enforcing, but enabled us to iden-tify that the terrible sniper situation we had here a few years ago came from a single gun, through the forensics that you did.  And it’s that: some carry a gun, some work with a microscope, but all are on their job, and I wanted to say that. Tomorrow, I will be at a Maryland, Montgomery County Cham-ber of Commerce event, in which they honor those who provide public safety, firefighters and also police officers. The Baltimore field office, Mr. Comey, will be receiving an award for being the best public safety partner. So it is not only what you do, it is how you do it, actually engaged in the community, leveraging the assets of both the Federal Government and then State and local, where everybody is best at what they are best at and best at what they are most needed for. So we appreciate that. Of course, we want to express our condolences over the death of Deputy Marshal Josie Wells killed in the line of fire.  And, of course, we wish our police officers in Ferguson a good re-covery. So we have a big job to do, and the way we start, with respect, I believe, with the right resources. While we are looking at the law enforcement agencies, the FBI, DEA, and ATF make up almost half of the Justice Department’s budget, close to $15 billion. I think that is a bargain. I think that is a tremendous bargain for what we get in the way you are out there protecting America. There is only a modest increase in here of $98 million, and I am concerned whether that enables you to keep on hiring the people that you need to do the job, to be able to sustain the effort with the people that you hire, and also will we be able to do the cost- of-living adjustments for the people who work with you, whether they are agents or intelligence analysts or computer analysts.

Recompense a sua curiosidade

Tudo o que você quer ler.
A qualquer hora. Em qualquer lugar. Em qualquer dispositivo.
Sem compromisso. Cancele quando quiser.
576648e32a3d8b82ca71961b7a986505