[Infowarrior] - FBI, ATF Battle for Control Of Cases

[Richard Forno]

FBI, ATF Battle for Control Of Cases
Cooperation Lags Despite Merger

By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 10, 2008; A01

In the five years since the FBI and ATF were merged under the Justice  
Department to coordinate the fight against terrorism, the rival law  
enforcement agencies have fought each other for control, wasting time  
and money and causing duplication of effort, according to law  
enforcement sources and internal documents.

Their new boss, the attorney general, ordered them to merge their  
national bomb databases, but the FBI has refused. The Bureau of  
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has long trained bomb- 
sniffing dogs; the FBI started a competing program.

At crime scenes, FBI and ATF agents have threatened to arrest one  
another and battled over jurisdiction and key evidence. The ATF  
inadvertently bought counterfeit cigarettes from the FBI -- the  
government selling to the government -- because the agencies are  
running parallel investigations of tobacco smuggling between Virginia  
and other states.

The squabbling poses dangers, many in law enforcement say, in an era  
in which cooperation is needed more than ever to prevent another  
terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Michael A. Mason, a former head of the  
FBI's Washington field office who retired in December from a senior  
post at FBI headquarters, said outside intervention might be needed.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050903096_pf.html