Justice Department overwhelmed by warrant requests

WASHINGTON — The number of secret surveillance warrants sought by the FBI has increased 85 percent in the past three years, a pace that has outstripped the Justice Department's ability to quickly process them.

Even after warrants are approved, the FBI often doesn't have enough agents or other personnel with the expertise to conduct the surveillance. And the FBI still is trying to build a cadre of translators who can understand conversations that are intercepted in such languages as Arabic, Pashto and Farsi.

These findings are among those of investigators for the commission probing the Sept. 11 attacks, which has harshly criticized the intelligence-gathering efforts of the CIA and FBI.

FBI and Justice Department officials said Thursday they are working to address all three issues, which limit the government's ability to gather the kind of intelligence needed to head off another catastrophic terrorist attack.

The warrants, authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allow for wiretaps, video surveillance, property searches and other spying on people believed to be terrorists or spies. After the 2001 Patriot Act and a key 2002 court decision crumbled the legal wall separating the FBI's criminal and intelligence investigations, use of FISA warrants has soared as sharing of information has become easier.

Since 2001, the number of warrants has risen from 934 to more than 1,700 in 2003, according to the FBI. The FBI adopted streamlined procedures to move the warrant requests quickly from the field offices to headquarters after the Sept. 11 attacks.

But a Sept. 11 commission report released this week found that the Justice Department approval process "continues to be long and slow" and that the mounting requests "are overwhelming the ability of the system to process them." Although there are provisions for the attorney general to issue emergency FISA warrants, these are good for only 72 hours before they must be reviewed by a special court.

The Justice Department and FBI are "attempting to address bottlenecks" in the system, the commission report found, but the difficulties suggest that some surveillance opportunities could be delayed or lost.

Attorney General John Ashcroft is issuing new guidelines for the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, which handles FISA requests, spokesman Mark Corallo said. The changes are aimed at reducing and preventing backlogs, he said.