FBI reorganization affects LV

Jace Radke

Monday, Oct. 21, 2002 | 11:12 a.m.

Over the past year the FBI has transformed itself into an agency bent on protecting the nation from terrorist attacks, but this new vigilance may be coming at the cost of investigating other crimes.

Across the country, the FBI has pulled its best agents from drug, white-collar and violent crime units and placed them on counterterrorism squads.

Those adjustments have forced a smaller contingent of agents, local authorities and other federal law enforcement agencies to hold the line against domestic crime.

In Las Vegas the FBI's white-collar crime and drug units have been the hardest hit. FBI spokesman Daron Borst would not comment on the number of agents moved from the units, but did say the local white-collar crime unit lost 25 percent of its agents and the drug unit lost 20 percent.

"Cases are falling through," said Special Agent Kevin Caudle, who supervises the Las Vegas bureau's white-collar crime unit. "I think it would be naive to say that terrorism is not going to be the priority for the next couple years, if not forever."

Since Sept 11, 2001, the FBI has gone from 2,178 agents working counterterrorism to more than 3,700, through transfers and the hiring of new agents, a national FBI spokesman said. The agency has more than 11,000 agents nationwide.

The number of cases that the FBI has passed on to other agencies is not tracked, and the number of cases that the local bureau investigates is not released, Borst said.

Still, the Metro Police fraud unit has felt the shift as it starts to pick up some of the cases that the FBI used to take, said Lt. Steve Franks, who supervises 24 detectives investigating identity theft, embezzlement and financial fraud. The unit receives thousands of reports of fraud a year.

"It's too early to tell how many more cases we're going to get," Franks said. "Each of my guys is sitting on 650 (reports). This change could slow down how fast we can get to the crooks, but we're not going to let any of these cases go. It's just not going to happen.

"We realize that as one glass fills another has to empty."

One area in which the FBI has scaled back locally is the investigation of bank and financial fraud. Until two months ago the FBI investigated financial institution cases with losses of more than $50,000, but that threshold was raised to $100,000, Caudle said.

"That doesn't mean that we won't handle a real complicated case at $80,000, but we've had to become more selective," Caudle said. "The banks aren't happy about it, but they understand the position we're in."

Bob Kaai, assistant vice president of investigation for Wells Fargo Nevada, said that he expects to see Metro and other agencies pick up the slack for the FBI.

"Whether it's Metro or the FBI, we just want to make sure that these cases get investigated," Kaai said. "If financial crimes are solved, then you will also see burglaries, narcotics and violent crimes cases being solved because it's all connected.

"You have to follow the money. Everyone has an account somewhere."

Detectives could be added to Metro's fraud unit to help with the increased workload as early as January, but at this time there are no plans to add personnel to the unit. Detectives are assigned based on the department's budget, and next year's budget has not yet been completed, department spokesman Lt. Vincent Cannito said.

"This situation has the potential to increase our workload, however we haven't seen the need to add any personnel at this point," Cannito said, noting the department has roving problem-solving units that can be put on any type of assignment. "If we start to see a need, we can take measures, like moving our problem-solving units in to help.

"We'll continue to reassess and apply personnel as needed, just as we've done in the past."

The FBI's Las Vegas bureau is hoping it will get new personnel to fill the holes in its units created by the focus on counterterrorism, but it is not counting on them right away.

So far only a small number of agents have been added to the Las Vegas office in the past year -- FBI officials won't give precise numbers -- and they were all assigned to counterterrorism and counterintelligence. The state has about 115 agents.

As many as 12 more agents could be transferred to Nevada over the next 12 months, to backfill drug and white-collar crime positions, but that addition is considered tentative.

Between Oct. 1, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2002, the FBI made more than 900 hires to fill new positions.

"Down the road the solution is more agents, but that's two to three years from now, when these new agents we've recruited have gone through (training at) Quantico and gained experience," Caudle said.

Caudle said it is nothing new for local FBI offices to be short-handed, but the agents who have been moved to counterterrorism are being missed.

"In major cities it's normal for there to be movement and some positions go unstaffed," Caudle said. "What has complicated things now is that we're seeing the best of the white-collar (crime) agents and the best of the drug agents being moved.

"We can't give a half effort on terrorism, and the thinking was that these agents have shown the ability to give the needed effort in these other areas, so they should carry that over."

The result in the Las Vegas drug unit is a shift in priorities, said its chief, Special Agent Albert Pisterzi, who has lost agents to counterterrorism.

"We've had to make do with what we've had and reprioritize what we do," Pisterzi said. "We're not going to go after Joe Blow selling marijuana on the corner. We want to identify, disrupt and dismantle the significant organizations and cells that are here.

"We want the guys that are involved in the trafficking and moving the drugs from port cities like San Diego and Los Angeles through Las Vegas and out to the rest of the country."

In January 2001 Clark County was named a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area by the Office of National Drug Control Policy because of those connections. The designation brings federal funding opportunities and a task force atmosphere that allows for the sharing of information between federal and local law enforcement.

Metro narcotics Lt. Chris VanCleef said that he has been reassured by Ellen Knowlton, who became special agent in charge of the FBI in Nevada in April, that she is committed to combating drugs.

"When she came on board she met with all our task forces and told us that she wasn't getting out of the drug business," VanCleef said. "Our relationship has remained pretty much the same, but I guess that cuts could be made in the future."

While drugs and white-collar crimes may be receiving less attention from the FBI, specific infractions in those areas that may have ties to terrorism are being scrutinized, Borst said.

"Obviously the financing of a terrorist organization is a prime concern," Borst said. "If information comes to light during the course of an investigation it will be pursued."

In the short term more cuts could be coming for the drug and white-collar units in Las Vegas and across the country as FBI executives look to fill counterterrorism needs and other high priority areas such as cybercrime.

"Bureau-wide we've seen a huge reduction agents in drug units, but we're not getting out of drug enforcement," Pisterzi said. "It has been frustrating for agents, but at the same time we realize that this is a fluid organization with priorities.

"Headquarters sets the staffing levels, and they could drop those levels or raise them. If they drop, we'll rely more on task forces and do what we can."

Relying on a combined effort by the law enforcement community and stretching resources is nothing new for the FBI, said Emmett Michaels, who was an FBI agent for 18 years, and now supervises security at Mandalay Bay.

"The priorities were constantly reviewed and shifted to account for increases in crime," said Michaels, who was sent to Las Vegas in the 1970s as part of a special organized crime task force that investigated Tony Spilotro and other alleged mobsters. "In the '70s we jumped from bank robbery to car thefts and then to organized crime, and that became a number-one priority for us.

"Prioritizing is what you have to do when you're working with limited numbers."

The FBI has had a long history of changing its focus with the times. Some of the areas the Las Vegas bureau has focused on in the past include organized crime, political corruption and telemarketing scams.

"We've always been a fluid agency with shifting priorities," Pisterzi said. "In the '80s and early '90s drugs was a focus, then it shifted to domestic terrorism with the Oklahoma City bombings. This is just another part of the cycle."

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