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CNN Live At Daybreak

FBI Missing Hundreds of Guns, Laptop Computers

Aired July 18, 2001 - 08:02   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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: More trouble for the FBI. This is an embarrassment for an agency that has already suffered a couple. Hundreds of weapons and laptop computers are actually missing from the agency. One of the laptops does have classified information on it, and one of the guns was used in a homicide. A Senate committee is getting ready to grill FBI officials about management of the agency, and now this disclosure.

Justice correspondent Kelli Arena has the latest for us right now -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Colleen, it just so happens that today's hearing on FBI management was previously scheduled, but they'll sure have a lot to talk about.

As you said, hundreds of weapons and laptop computers are missing. The FBI alerted the Justice Department yesterday, after an extensive four-week inventory search. Specifically, 449 weapons are missing. Those include machine guns, rifles, and pistols. And as you mentioned, at least one has been used in a homicide.

Also unaccounted for are 184 laptops. At least one contains classified information on two closed investigations, and it's possible three other laptops also contain sensitive information.

Attorney General John Ashcroft has ordered a department-wide review of inventory controls that would not only cover the FBI, but agencies including the DEA and the INS. In a statement, Ashcroft said, "The department must insure the highest standards for the inventory and accounting of law enforcement equipment issued to department employees and agents. In order for law enforcement organizations to be effective, they must have the public's confidence in their ability to perform not only the most complex duties, but also the most basic responsibilities."

An FBI official says 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 agent vehicles.

Now, as for the laptops, officials say many may have simply been discarded because they were outdated. The problem is the paperwork was never properly filled out -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: And Kelli, what about any other federal agencies? Any other agencies experiencing this kind of problem?

ARENA: As a matter of fact, yes. The inspector general, in March, issued a report showing that the INS had been missing 539 weapons. And it was on the heels of that report that the FBI started to do this extensive search of its own, to find out exactly how many weapons and other equipment it may have been missing.

So that's why the attorney general has called for a complete Justice-wide review. As I said, those include not only FBI, but the INS, U.S. Marshals, Bureau of Prisons -- all of those agencies will be doing a top-to-bottom review, to find out exactly what's missing.

MCEDWARDS: Kelli Arena, thanks very much.

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