International Terrorism: Status of GAO's Review of the FBI's International Terrorism Program

• NCJ Number: 126142
• Author(s): A P Jones
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 10 pages
• Corporate Author: US Government Accountability Office
• Sale Source: Azimuth Inc.; National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Legislative Hearing/Committee Report
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This Congressional testimony deals with the General Accounting Office's (GAO) assessment of the international terrorism program conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The GAO's data were collected from questionnaires completed by FBI agents on cases they had completed.

Abstract

The GAO analysis of 71 cases shows that cases were opened as terrorism investigations for several reasons: the subjects were believed involved in terrorist acts, the subjects were believed leaders or members of terrorist organizations, or the subjects were believed associated with or linked to terrorist groups. By projecting the responses to the questionnaires, the GAO estimates that almost 99 percent of the 17,500 investigations conducted by FBI were not extensive, that the subjects in 38 percent of the cases were US persons, and that information on individuals involved in 47 percent of the cases was recorded into FBI data bases. Finally, the analysis indicates that most cases are closed when no information is developed linking the subject to terrorist activities.