Saturday, May 10, 2008

In August 2004, then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft issued a directive designed to resolve FBI-ATF tensions over explosives investigations and other matters. Among the key points:

· If an explosives incident is terrorism-related, an FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force controls the investigation. If it is not, the ATF runs the case, unless it involves an area such as civil rights that is traditional FBI turf. The FBI-led task forces determine any terrorist links.

· The two FBI and ATF bomb data centers will be combined into a single database, run by the ATF.

· All Justice Department post-blast explosives training will be consolidated under the ATF.

· All Justice Department agencies that use bomb-sniffing dogs will start using only ATF-trained dogs "as soon as practicable."