War is an expensive hobby. This just in, from the New York Times:
White House to Keep Agencies’ Focus on TerrorismWhen, exactly, has the bureau not needed "more agents"? When did the cops ever want less money spent on cops?WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is moving to solidify one of the most significant shifts of resources put into place under President George W. Bush: the transformation of the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into agencies where the top priority is counterterrorism rather than conventional law enforcement.
...[T]he shift of agents to counterterrorism and intelligence duties after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has seriously complicated other efforts. Those include demands for resources to combat corporate and financial fraud and a deadly drug war across the border with Mexico.
“The logical consequence of cannibalizing our criminal program to augment our national security efforts is that we have reduced the ability to surge resources within our criminal branch,” Mr. Mueller said.
He added, in response to lawmakers’ questions, that the bureau needed more agents to address financial fraud and crime related to drug trafficking.
The administration’s position underscores the extent to which Mr. Obama’s legal team has found itself following many of the Bush administration’s counterterrorism policies, even as Mr. Holder has asserted that the Justice Department will differ markedly by being more respectful of civil liberties and constitutional limits."Respect," in this context, means that they'll stop saying they're going to fuck us. They'll still fuck us, of course, but they'll call it love.
Representative Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat... has questioned whether enough money has been allocated to fight the spillover of crime along the Mexican border...My war! -- No! MY war!
