-Caveat Lector- FBI Said Needs Outside Watchdog By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department inspector general, who forced major changes in the FBI crime lab, believes the bureau needs a permanent outside watchdog rather than investigate its own misdeeds and missteps. ``It's very important that there be an external oversight body that has full and unlimited jurisdiction to conduct whatever investigations it thinks appropriate,'' Inspector General Michael R. Bromwich said. The bearded and bespectacled 45-year-old lawyer spoke in an interview this week as he leaves office after five occasionally stormy years. Under Bromwich, the office for the first time took on systematic problems in large special investigations, such as the lab and the FBI's handling of secrets about Chinese spying. Bromwich's 400 investigators have unlimited authority to probe other Justice agencies, like the Marshals Service, Bureau of Prisons, Immigration and Naturalization Service and department lawyers for conduct other than legal work. But the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration have internal investigative arms with primary authority to investigate their agents. Only in large public controversies has Attorney General Janet Reno ordered Bromwich into FBI or DEA probes. ``Because of the FBI's enormous power and support, particularly in Congress, the issue of expanding oversight of the FBI has never gotten any traction,'' Bromwich said. ``People get interested in it on specific issues,'' such as the lab; Richard Jewell, the Atlanta security guard wrongly suspected of the Olympic bombing; or the Ruby Ridge, Idaho, siege where an FBI sniper killed an unarmed mother. ``But eventually the bureau, because of their continuing clout, gets restored to their favored position,'' Bromwich said. FBI spokesmen did not respond to questions regarding Bromwich's remarks. In recent years, FBI Director Louis Freeh enlarged and strengthened the bureau's internal investigations office, and even Bromwich concedes its has become more professional under Freeh. But he said, ``Our doing an investigation has a greater deterrent effect, and it has more credibility with the public than the FBI and DEA policing themselves.'' And one outside watchdog would be fairer, he said. Currently, an immigration officer and an FBI agent face ``potentially different standards, different outcomes for the same misbehavior and a difference in the objectivity of the result,'' Bromwich said. Bromwich's intervention made a dramatic difference in the handling of years of complaints about the crime lab from FBI chemist Frederic Whitehurst. Virtually all of his complaints had been dismissed by several internal FBI reviews. But the inspector general, aided by private forensic experts he recruited, discovered flawed scientific work and inaccurate testimony biased in favor of the prosecution in major cases, including the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center bombings. At the inspector general's recommendation, the lab has revised procedures and training, finally obtained its first accreditation by outside experts, and is now headed for the first time by a scientist, Assistant FBI Director Donald Kerr. ``If we had not done the review, they'd have another agent in that job - nobody like Donald Kerr, a top-ranked scientist,'' Bromwich said. Some department officials viewed Bromwich as prickly, because he fought regularly over jurisdiction with Michael Shaheen, who headed another Justice watchdog agency. Reno restricted Shaheen to monitoring the legal ethics of Justice lawyers, and Bromwich said problems subsided when Shaheen retired in 1998. Bromwich took another dispute all the way to Reno, forcing her to exercise for the first time her authority to block publication of an inspector general report. Justice officials felt his report might incidentally jeopardize an ongoing drug case. Released months later after that risk passed, the report found no evidence of a CIA role in the crack cocaine epidemic. ``Reno understands, but other officials have to get used to the fact that an inspector general is not part of the team in the regular sense,'' Bromwich said. ``An IG has an independent mandate under the law and can't be a straight subordinate.'' DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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