Threats to Feds Not Tracked

DAILY BRIEFING

Threats to Feds Not Tracked

The Justice Department has asked Congress to eliminate a requirement that it publish a list of threats and violence against government employees, The Washington Post reported Monday.

"We have sent draft legislative language to Congress asking that the mandate for a report to Congress be lifted because it was too hard for the FBI to identify bona fide threats," Justice Department spokesman John Russell said.

The 1996 anti-terrorism bill, which was adopted after the Oklahoma City bombing, requires the Justice Department to publish statistics going back to 1990 on threats or crimes against federal, state and local employees and their immediate families when the wrongdoing is related to the workers' official duties. The numbers are supposed to be published in an annual report.

The Justice Department, though, said the statistics are too difficult to collect because threats are not routinely reported to the FBI and law enforcement agencies do not normally categorize crimes according to the employment of the victims.

National Treasury Employees Union President Robert M. Tobias said he will fight the Justice Department's request.

"Of course there is no easy system for collecting this data, but that is not an excuse not to do it," he said. "These numbers are sufficiently important that a system ought to be created to assemble them."

In 1995, employees at the IRS reported 29 assaults and 825 verbal threats, according to agency records. The Federal Protective Service reported that in 1995, 10,816 serious crimes, including rape, robbery and aggravated assault, occurred in federal buildings.

In October, Vice President Al Gore issued guidelines aimed at reducing violence in the federal workplace. The guidelines are contained in a 135-page handbook, "Dealing with Workplace Violence," developed by the Office of Personnel Management and an interagency work group. The guide describes how to create crisis management teams, gives examples of written policies on workplace violence and discusses the legal issues involved when protecting employees from danger.

Congress is expected to consider the Justice Department's proposal to scrap the requirement to tally threats and violence against government employees when it convenes in January.