DOJ Spends Millions on ‘Nonmission’ Luxury Travel for Attorney Generals, FBI Director
A Government Accountability
Office report reveals that the Justice Department has spent $11.4
million to fly the Attorney General and FBI director on FBI luxury jets
for travel unrelated to the agency’s mission.
Iowa Republican and ranking judiciary
committee member Sen. Chuck Grassley — who requested GAO look into
Justice Department aircraft being used to for “nonmission” reasons —
released the report Thursday.
“These luxury jets were supposedly needed
for counterterrorism, but it turns out that they were used almost
two-thirds of the time for jet-setting executive travel instead,”
Grassley said. “Nobody disputes that the Attorney General and the FBI
Director should have access to the secure communications, but, for
instance, there’s no reason they can’t take a less expensive mode of
transportation, or cut their personal travel.”
The GAO looked at nonmission jet use from
2007-2011. In that timeframe, the report explains, the “three
individuals who served as Attorney General (AG) and the Director of the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI)
accounted for 95 percent (659 out of 697 flights) of all Department of
Justice (DOJ) executive nonmission flights using DOJ aircraft at a total
cost of $11.4 million.”
According to the report, personal flights
accounted for 24 percent of nonmission flights and that the AGs and FBI
director reimbursed that travel “in accordance with federal
requirements.” Yet, as the report notes, that reimbursement “is
generally less than the cost of operating a government aircraft” as it
is largely reimbursed at the cost of a commercial rate.
Additionally, the GAO report revealed
that over those five years DOJ spent $1.5 million to fly jets several
miles from “an undisclosed location in the Washington area” to Reagan
National Airport to pick up the Attorney General and FBI director Robert
Mueller. The report notes that the FBI considers these
“positioning flights to be necessary” because the location is “covert.”
“The taxpayers expect some discretion on
this type of thing. I’m really interested in how the Attorney General
can claim that federal law enforcement agents will be cut, knowing that
over the last 5 years the Department has allowed for millions
of dollars to be spent on personal travel. It’s ludicrous,” Grassley
added. “The hypocrisy from the administration when they say that ‘the
cuts apply to you, but not to me’ is hard to believe.”
Attorney General Eric Holder told ABC
News on Wednesday that the mandatory budget cuts set to take effect at
the end of the week as a result of sequestration will make Americans
less safe.
“This is something that is going to have an impact on the safety of this country,” Holder told ABC News.
“The Justice Department is going to lose
nine percent of its budget between now and September 30th. We’re going
to lose $1.6 billion. There are not going to be as many FBI agents, ATF
agents, DEA agents, prosecutors who are going to be able to do their
jobs,” he added. “They’re going to be furloughed. They’re going to spend
time out of their offices, not doing their jobs.”
As the report explains, until 2011 the
FBI director had the option to travel commercially, while the Attorney
General has “historically” had to use government aircraft for all
travel.
The GAO audit was conducted from March 2012 to Feb 2013.
Update: In a joint
statement issued after publication the FBI and Justice Department
stressed that the number one priority for their aircraft is
counterterrorism and weapons of mass destruction operations. They noted
that the GAO report “confirms that the Department of Justice always
adheres to these priorities in scheduling use of its aircraft”
“The report also makes clear that the
overwhelming majority of travel by recent Attorneys General and the
Director – although termed ‘non mission’ travel by the report – has been
for official business travel in furtherance of the Department’s
national security and public safety mission,” their statement adds. “The
Department’s national security mission necessitates the communications
and range capabilities of the Department’s Gulfstream V aircraft, which
are essential for certain overseas operations.”
Source:
dailycaller.com
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