Big talkers.

• Author: Lynch, Michael W.
• Position: Data - Dept. of Justice hypes terrorism to justify budget - Brief Article

Post-September 11, it seems strange that terrorist threats once needed to be hyped. But that's exactly what the Department of justice did to help justify its $22 billion budget, according to a Miami Herald investigation. In its 2000 annual report, the DOJ not only cites the "FBI's efforts to thwart the terrorist efforts organized by Usama Bin Laden" as a success but also tallies up more than 10,000 terrorist investigations and 236 terrorist convictions.

The numbers seem impressive until one discovers that an angry man ringing a call button for more booze on an international flight, a tenant impersonating an FBI officer in a rental dispute, and Chinese sailors seeking work in the U.S. were...