FBI director to the Senate Select Committee

In 1993 the FBI had under 600 special Agents and 500 support positions funded for its entire counter-terrorism program.

By 1999, that allocation had increased to around 1,300 Agents and a like amount of support positions

We established the FBI’s Counter Terrorism Center at FBI Headquarters which was coordinated with the CIA’s Center by communications, information exchange, and personnel staffing.

The DOJ and the FBI prepared hundereds of FISA Court applications in counter terrorism matters where electronic surveillance or legal assistance was required from the court.

…in November 1999 I created the new FBI Counter Terrorism Division

The 2000, 2001, and 2002 (pre September 11th , 2001) budgets fall far short of the counter terrorism resources we knew were nessesary to do the best job

…I asked for a total of 1,895 Special Agents, analyst, linguist and others. The final enacted allocation I received was 76 people over those 3 years

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/100802freeh.pdf


Not to mention Ashcroft took up residence inside FBI headquaters to make sure no FISA warrants were issued.

I would say not only were their hands tied behind their back, but he also stuck a knife in it