For the first time in recent history, a Congressional Commission has set out to study the integration of widely disparate and often conflicting issues to strengthen the law enforcement fabric of the Federal Government while protecting democracy and the rights and liberties of individual citizens. The Commission saw its role as calling the Nation’s attention to the broadest concerns in national and international law enforcement. It also urges the Nation and its Federal law enforcement establishment to break down the barriers of institutional thinking and find new ways to approach the challenges of crime in the new century. Over its 2-year tenure, the Commission met more than 20 times and took verbal and sometimes written testimony from some 70 witnesses, including two members of President Clinton’s Cabinet and numerous presidential appointees. They identified that reforms are needed in six major areas: 1) To combat global crime, cybercrime, and terrorism;2) Make it clear that the Attorney General has broad coordinating authority for Federal law enforcement, and minimize overlap and duplication3) Provide the intelligence and information needed to combat terrorism;4) Make global crime a national law enforcement priority;5) Reverse the trend toward federalization; and 6)Focus on professionalism, integrity, and accountability.
