Gang Activity is Increasing ‘Potential for Terrorism-Related Events’ But FBI Plans to Shut Down Gang Intelligence Center

Because most gangs are minorities and thus are a ‘special interest group’…

Gonzalo Esquivel, an alleged leader of the Nuestra Familia gang, is placed in a police car after his arrest in Dos Palos, Calif., June, 7, 2011. (AP Photo)

(CNSNews.com) – An FBI budget proposal to eliminate a seven year-old body designed to help counter gang activity is a “mistake” that will hinder efforts to combat violent gangs, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) told the bureau’s director during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing Wednesday.
The same budget request that proposes closing down the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) states that gang activity in the U.S. is increasing the potential for “terrorism-related events associated with criminal enterprises.”
According to the NGIC’s latest annual gang threat assessment, about 1.4 million active gang members make up more than 33,000 gangs in the U.S.
“Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions and up to 90 percent in several others,” it says.
The FBI established the NGIC in 2005 at the direction of Congress to “help curb the growth of gangs and related criminal activity.”

(Image: National Gang Intelligence Center)

Staffed by analysts from various federal agencies, the center outside Washington D.C. “integrates gang intelligence from across federal, state, and local law enforcement on the growth, migration, criminal activity, and association of gangs that pose a significant threat to the U.S.,” according to the FBI.
Wolf, who chairs the subcommittee dealing with Department of Justice agencies, questioned FBI Director Robert Mueller about the decision to eliminate the NGIC. Mueller was testifying on the FBI’s budget request for fiscal year 2013.Wolf said the proposal to close down the center contradicted Mueller’s assertion to the committee last year that the FBI did not “anticipate any diminished effort when it comes to addressing violent gangs.”
“To eliminate the office would be a mistake,” he told Mueller, predicting that the House Appropriations Committee would not agree to closing down the center.
The FY2013 budget proposal calls for the elimination of the NGIC, which it says “includes 15 positions (1 Agent, 13 Intelligence Analysts) and $7,826,000.”