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CNN Live At Daybreak

FBI Inventory Short Hundreds of Guns, Laptop Computers

Aired July 18, 2001 - 07:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Those missing items from the FBI: What is missing and why?

CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena is in Washington, with details on what is just going on -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it's another embarrassing admission for the bureau, which is already under some very serious scrutiny. Four hundred forty-nine weapons are missing: 184 were stolen, 265 were lost. Those weapons include machine guns, rifles, and pistols.

Also unaccounted for are 184 laptops: 171 of those are missing, 13 of those were stolen. One of those stolen contains classified information, and at least three others may, as well.

The totals for the missing weapons and guns span over a 11-year period. An FBI official says that the weapons were lost for a variety of reasons, everything from agents retiring and never turning in their weapons, to guns being stolen out of agents' vehicles.

As for the laptops, many of those may have been discarded because they were outdated. The problem is that the paperwork was never properly filled out -- Carol.

LIN: So Kelli, how are John Ashcroft and the new FBI director likely to respond? What are they going to do about this?

ARENA: The attorney general has ordered a total department review of all of the divisions under the Justice Department -- not only the FBI, but the INS, the Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service -- everything that falls under his jurisdiction -- to find out what is going on with inventory controls.

LIN: Thank you very much Kelli Arena, with the latest, in Washington.

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