Federal Bureau Of Investigation

After seven long years, the FBI and the Justice Department say they are closing the books on the anthrax investigation. But the investigation into the investigation is only beginning, and it will focus on what Congress members described Thursday as apparent missteps by authorities that dramatically prolonged the probe, unfairly maligned an innocent government scientist, and raised questions about whether federal agents had conclusively ruled out other suspects besides microbiologist Bruce E.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday vigorously challenged FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III for the bureau's handling of the anthrax mailings investigation, signaling that they were not convinced the case had been solved. Both the panel's Democratic chairman and its most senior Republican said that, based on what evidence they had seen, the FBI had not proved that the mailings were perpetrated solely by Bruce E.

Investigative documents unsealed Tuesday revealed provocative details behind early suspicions that led the FBI to target the wrong man in the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people. The misguided investigation continued for years into the original suspect, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, who in June won a $5.8-million settlement from the FBI and the Justice Department for violating his privacy rights. On Aug. 8, the U.S.

A veteran FBI agent has been accused of illegally accessing computers at bureau headquarters in Washington, D.C., in what prosecutors suspect was a failed bid to help Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano defend himself against federal racketeering and wiretapping charges, according to court documents and a source familiar with the case. Mark T.

The Justice Department's inspector general admonished the FBI on Monday for its handling of the page scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, saying the bureau failed to follow up on suggestive e-mails between the Florida Republican and a former male page and gave "inaccurate" public statements about the case.

Seeking to combat the spread of street gangs across international borders, the FBI will join forces with Los Angeles police and prosecutors next month to teach authorities from Mexico, El Salvador and other Latin American countries how to better track and investigate gang crime. The three-day training in Los Angeles comes amid an alarming increase in "transnational" gangs that move between countries despite repeated efforts to dismantle their organizations and finances, authorities said. The U.

The FBI is investigating Rep. Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) for a series of land transactions in which he avoided paying capital gains taxes after saying he had been forced to sell under eminent domain in Monrovia and Fontana. The federal investigation was initiated after The Times reported in August that officials in both cities denied that they had acquired Miller's property using eminent domain, which enables governments to buy land for certain purposes even if owners do not want to sell.

The FBI lost 160 laptops -- including at least 10 containing sensitive or classified data and one with names and addresses of agents -- sometime from February 2002 to September 2005, according to a report released Monday by the Justice Department. Inspector General Glenn A. Fine also reported that 160 weapons disappeared during the same period. Fine's report grew out of an audit examining FBI efforts to keep tabs on its equipment. Progress has been made, he said, but more must be done.

AS a baby-faced undercover FBI operative, Eric O'Neill, at the time just 27, duped America's most notorious double agent, Robert Hanssen, a paranoid egomaniac and sexual deviant who kept a stash of automatic weapons in his trunk. By comparison, Hollywood's menagerie of control freaks was child's play. Pitch meetings didn't really challenge him, he said, because espionage and movie-making demand a similar skill set: nerves of steel, preternatural charm and a high pain threshold.

The Justice Department's inspector general on Tuesday questioned the accuracy of anti-terrorism statistics gathered by the FBI and federal prosecutors, saying they included immigration violations, drug trafficking and marriage fraud cases even when there was no evidence linking them to terrorist activity. In a 140-page audit released Tuesday, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A.