The Accomplishments of the U.S. Department of Justice 2001-2009

by U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney General

Description The mission of the Department of Justice is to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. From 2001 to 2009, the Department has fulfilled that mission and advanced the interests of justice and the rights of the American people. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Department made combating terrorism its top priority. This shift required a significant revision to the Department's structures, policies and procedures and a substantial investment of resources. Most significant were the creation of a separate National Security Division and the FBI's efforts to transform itself from primarily a law enforcement agency into a law enforcement and domestic intelligence agency. In 2006 the Department set up the National Security Division, a new component tasked with leading the Department's efforts to combat terrorism. As part of that reorganization, the Department launched an extensive effort to prosecute threats to national security as soon as the law, evidence and circumstances permitted. In addition, between Fiscal Year 2001 and FY 2008, the FBI's budget roughly doubled, allowing for large increases in the number of intelligence analysts and language analysts, and increasing the use of special initiatives such as Joint Terrorism Task Forces. As a result of these efforts, numerous domestic and international terrorist plots were disrupted and many of the people involved were prosecuted and sent to prison, including Richard Reid (the "shoe bomber"), Zacarias Moussaoui and Jose Padilla. Another top priority of the Department over the past eight years was combating violent crime. This priority included targeting gun crimes, dismantling gangs, disrupting drug trafficking and protecting children from sexual exploitation. The Department made strides in each of these areas. For example, since the inception of the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative approximately eight years ago, the Department has more than doubled the number of gun crime prosecutions when compared to the previous eight years. Recognizing that our nation faced an epidemic of technology-assisted exploitation crimes targeting children, the Department launched Project Safe Childhood in 2006. As a result, federal child sexual exploitation charges increased by 33 percent between FY 2006 and FY 2008. The Department also maintained its overall drug prosecution rate, successfully targeting and prosecuting the manufacturing and distribution of drugs such as methamphetamine. These measures and others, all of which have emphasized cooperation with the Department's state and local law enforcement partners, contributed to violent crime rates near a 30-year low. The Department has made a significant effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. Working with other agencies in the executive branch, the Department has obtained approximately 1,300 convictions, including more than 200 corporate chief executives or presidents, more than 120 vice presidents and more than 50 chief financial officers, at corporations including WorldCom, Adelphia and Enron. The Department also focused on investigating and prosecuting fraud associated with the dispersion of federal money. In particular, the Department established a National Procurement Fraud task force and focused its efforts on areas such as Medicare spending, defense procurement connected to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and government aid following hurricanes and other natural disasters. Since 2001, the Department's suits against violators of the nation's antitrust, tax and environmental laws have resulted in record fines.