You mean they haven’t foiled thousands of terrorist attacks after all?
by digby
The Office of Inspector General has issued a new report on DOJ’s reporting of prosecutions and convictions, including terrorism cases. The report is a follow-up to a 2007 and 2012 report which found DOJ inflated its terror case statistics. The new report finds DOJ continues to misreport its record in terrorism cases. The OIG attributes the mistakes to shoddy record-keeping. The full report is here.
Funny story. Turns out they’ve been misreporting their terrorism statistics and gets lots moire money every year to fight terrorism.
Here are a few examples of the “shoddy record keeping”:
In one case, the defendant was convicted of animal fighting, but the USAO coded the case as Domestic Terrorism. In the second case, the defendant was convicted of bank robbery by force or violence, but the USAO coded the case as Terrorism Related Hoaxes. While these two cases were initially investigated as terrorism cases, the resulting indictments did not result in terrorism charges.
…In one case, the defendant was charged with conspiracy and intent to distribute over 50 kilograms of marijuana and was involved in the importation and delivery of approximately 200 pounds of marijuana. According to an USAO official, this case should have been coded as an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case instead of an Export Enforcement Terrorism-Related case.
…[in another case]the defendant was convicted of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine. This case was reported as an International Terrorism Incident Which Impacts U.S. case, but an USAO official told us this case was an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.
….In one case, the defendant was convicted of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. This case was reported as a Domestic Terrorism case but an USAO official told us that this case should have been recoded as an Immigration case.
In [another] case, the defendant was convicted of using an access device with intent to defraud. This case was reported as a Terrorism/National Security Critical Infrastructure case, but an USAO official told us that this case should have been coded as a White Collar Crime/Fraud case.
…In [one] case, the defendant was convicted of redemption of illegally received food stamps and an USAO official told us the case was miscoded[as a Terrorist financing case.]
I’m sure there are many Republicans who legitimately see food stamps as a from of terrorist financing. So, perhaps we shouldn’t be so hasty.
The report indicates this is about data entry errors. And I’m sure some of it is that. But it’s always a good idea to follow the heat and follow the money. Terrorism is big business for the police apparatus’ of this nation.
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