Audit:Anti-terror case data flawed-included immigration violations marriage fraud & drug trafficking

[Kadie]

Audit: Anti-terror case data flawed
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors counted immigration violations, marriage fraud and drug trafficking among anti-terror cases in the four years after 9/11 — despite no evidence linking them to terror activity, a Justice Department audit found Tuesday.

Overall, nearly all of the terrorism-related statistics on investigations, referrals and cases examined by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine were either diminished or inflated. Only two of 26 sets of department data reported between 2001 and 2005 were accurate, the audit found.

Responding, a Justice spokesman pointed to figures showing that prosecutors in the department's headquarters for the most part either accurately or underreported their data — underscoring what he called efforts to avoid pumping up federal terror statistics.

The numbers, used to monitor the Justice Department's progress in battling terrorists, are reported to Congress and the public and help, in part, shape the department's budget needs.

"For these and other reasons, it is essential that the department report accurate terrorism-related statistics," the audit concluded.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070220/ap_on_go_ot/terror_prosecutions_3

[unpossibles]

1. hey 7% accuracy is not so bad!

they're doin a heckuva job!