Today, the Times reported that the F.B.I. has had limited resources to handle the influx of financial fraud cases that have wreaked financial havoc over these last couple of months.The Bush Administration, over the last 7 years, has cut a tremendous amount of the FBI's criminal investigative workforce to supply more resources to counter-terrorism and intelligence. This now poses a problem for the FBI to adequately provide the resources it needs to conduct investigations on financial crimes that have led us to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. After 9/11, 1,800 agents, or close to one third of all criminal agents, were transferred from white-collar investigation to intelligence and counter-terrorism duties. This is now leaving the Bureau stretched thin and left with little manpower to combat the fraudulent mortgage deals made by Fannie, Freddie, and others from the Wall Street club. This is unacceptable to the American people. Our tax dollars are being channeled to bail out these firms and yet the administration can't even adequately staff the FBI to conduct proper investigations and hold people accountable for their unscrupulous practices.
Regrettably, one senior FBI official, Chris Swecker, publicly mentioned that an influx of fraudulent mortgage deals had the potential to become an "epidemic." The Times stated that
"Since 2004, F.B.I. officials have warned that mortgage fraud posed a looming threat, and the bureau has repeatedly asked the Bush administration for more money to replenish the ranks of agents handling nonterrorism investigations, according to records and interviews. But each year, the requests have been denied, with no new agents approved for financial crimes, as policy makers focused on counterterrorism." This is just another classic example of the Bush Administration's tragic neglect of the needs here at home."
The F.B.I. is carrying out investigations of AIG and Lehman Brothers alongside Fannie and Freddie, and it has opened more than 1,500 other mortgage-related investigations. In the wake of national alarm, the FBI is going to reassign hundreds of agents to work on the financial crimes. However, some are still wary of whether this will be enough and where they will come from. I am perplexed by this myself.
It sounds to me like the The White House crowd needs to start hearing the cries from its own people and respond to the appalling behavior on Wall Street with the kind of leadership this country deserves. The FBI can't be left with dwindling resources to tackle one of the biggest financial messes of the century. It's just unacceptable.
