Delete: "$15,000".

LANGUAGE CHANGE

Insert: "including purchase of one bus at not to exceed $17,500,".1 "$17,500".2

REQUESTED INCREASE FOR 1962

Mr. ROONEY. The total request is in the amount of $25,715,000, which would be an increase of $2,004,820 over the amount appropriated to date in the current fiscal year, and an increase of $1,131,820 when anticipated pay act supplementals are taken into consideration.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1961.

U.S. ATTORNEYS

WITNESSES

S. A. ANDRETTA, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

J. R. REILLY, ASSISTANT TO THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL P. H. MODLIN, FIRST ASSISTANT

J. C. BROWN, DEPUTY DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET OFFICER

Mr. ROONEY. The first part of this requested appropriation, to wit, the U.S. attorneys, is to be found under tab 22 in the justification book. We shall at this point insert in the record pages 22-1 through 22-17.

It is estimated that $14,843,000 will be required to meet the needs of U.S. attorneys' offices for the 1962 fiscal year. The increase requested exceeds the amount needed for 1961 by $670,400, and includes funds for 20 additional positions.

GENERAL STATEMENT

The U.S. attorneys are not only the field representatives of the Department of Justice they are the sole instruments through which the Federal laws are enforced and administered throughout the 50 States and possessions. As such, they represent almost all agencies and departments of the Government in the actual litigation of claims by and against the United States. The effectiveness of their work materially influences the degree of respect and compliance which the citizenry accords the Nation's laws. The results of their litigative efforts also have a direct impact on the Treasury of the United States in the number of monetary judgments which must be paid by the Government, and in the legal principles of Government liability which are established in any given field of law. The success of the U.S. attorneys' efforts is largely governed by the assistance furnished to U.S. attorneys in the way of personnel and related items. The Department of Justice is involved, either tangentially or directly, in most of the problems affecting our national life. As those problems increase both in scope and complexity, the work of the U.S. attorneys becomes correspondingly heavier and more difficult. The tremendous increase in land acquisition for dam reservoir and military purposes, the ever-increasing number of tax cases, both 1 To replace wornout bus for the District of Columbia.

2 Current cost to replace bus is $17,500.

civil and criminal, the large number of frauds cases arising from the various governmental welfare programs are all matters which the U.S. attorneys must handle. Their proper handling requires that the U.S. attorneys be furnished with the tools to do the job, i.e., funds sufficient to meet the operational needs of their offices.

The results of the work of all of the Federal investigative agencies in their districts, such as the FBI, the Bureau of Narcotics, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Unit, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Secret Service, are channeled through the U.S. attorneys' offices to the courts. The end result of the time, money and personnel spent on such investigations is thus dependent upon the effectiveness of the legal work done by the U.S. attorneys and their assistants. This applies not only to criminal cases but to civil cases as well where the amounts involved in suits for or against the United States involve an aggregate of hundreds of millions of dollars. Because of the importance of preserving the interests of the Government in these cases, it is essential that the professional staff of the U.S. attorneys not only be adequate in number but also possess the highest degree of legal skill and be compensated in a manner commensurate with their responsibilities. Competent legal assistance requires adequate remuneration, and the maintenance of an insufficient or mediocre legal staff is false economy in an area where not only the prestige of the Government is involved but where the complex legal issues, unless skillfully handled, may result in precedents extremely damaging to the Government.

It is for these reasons that the executive office for U.S. attorneys has endeavored to recruit young attorneys whose academic background, legal experience, and skill are of the highest caliber. Obtaining young men of this type for the U.S. attorneys' offices is becoming more difficult inasmuch as the number of highly qualified young lawyers is comparatively small, competition for their services is keen, and the salaries which can be offered by private firms and State and local governments places the Department at a disadvantage in this competition. We cannot hope to compete with private firms but we must be able to compete with State and local prosecutive offices. A portion of the funds requested herein will be used to establish and maintain the salaries of our seasoned young attorneys at a rate comparable to that existing in State and local agencies.

In fiscal 1953, as a result of understaffing, U.S. attorneys' offices had accumulated a tremendous backlog of cases and matters which could not be disposed of with existing personnel. The first overall inventory of business pending in U.S. attorneys' offices was conducted in fiscal 1954. The results of this inventory revealed that a total of 74,972 cases and matters were pending as of August 31, 1954. In order to reduce this backlog and to bring the Government's business to a current status, the Department at that time launched a backlog drive in which primary emphasis was placed on the disposition of older cases and matters. To render the fullest possible assistance to U.S. attorneys in this drive, the Department initiated such changes as the delegation of broadened authority to dispose of or settle cases, the establishment of improved management and administrative operations, salary increases in order to attract and retain the highest caliber of personnel, and closer and more complete liaison with other Federal agencies. Equipped with these aids, the U.S. attorneys succeeded in achieving unprecedented reductions in the backlog of pending cases and matters. As of June 30, 1960, the total of pending cases and matters had been reduced from 74,972 to 48,121-a decrease of 26,851, or 35.8 percent. Thus, in less than 5 years the backlog of Government business pending in U.S. attorneys' offices has been cut by well over a third. While these results are encouraging, the Department is confident that an even higher ratio of reduction will be achieved during the coming year with an expanded staff.

Total matters received and cases filed by U.S. attorneys during fiscal 1960 aggregated 194,314--a rise of 409 over the preceding year's total. During fiscal 1960, civil cases filed increased 346, or 1.4 percent; criminal cases filed decreased 711, or 2.2 percent; criminal complaints filed were up 79; and civil matters received increased 695, or 2.1 percent. As figures show the volume of new civil business received was somewhat above that of fiscal 1959.

Total collections by U.S. attorneys during the 1960 fiscal year aggregated $32,964,349. This was accomplished primarily by working our personnel to the absolute maximum in most instances together with utilizing the personnel available in the most effective manner. We are hopeful that, given additional personnel and through the exercise of intensive collection efforts during the 1962

fiscal year, we shall be able to increase the amount of money recovered on claims due the Government. Collections for fiscal 1960 represent a return to the Government of $2.32 for each dollar obligated for U.S. attorneys' offices.

Of equal importance with the monetary sums actually recovered is the aggregate of savings effected to the Government by U.S. attorneys through the defense or compromise of suits against the United States. During fiscal 1960, 1,198 suits against the Government were terminated. In these suits the savings to the Government aggregated $42,358,317. When this total is added to the aggregate of $32,964,349 actually collected for the Government we find that the U.S. attorneys effected a return to the Government of $5.31 for each dollar used in the operation of their offices, a return of over 500 percent.

The successful results which have been achieved in the backlog drive have also contributed to the alleviation of delay and congestion in the courts. The disposition of large numbers of older Government cases from the dockets has brought the administration of justice to a more current status thus reducing the waiting period for all litigants, governmental as well as private. As of August 31, 1954, there were 10,392 criminal and 23,413 civil cases pending in U.S. attorneys' offices. In addition, such offices had 18,404 criminal and 22,763 civil matters pending. As of June 30, 1960, the number of criminal cases had been reduced to 7,820 and civil cases (exclusive of tax lien suits) to 16,179— an overall reduction of 29 percent. Criminal matters were reduced from 18,404 to 9,692 and civil matters from 22,763 to 11,918-a decrease of 47.5 percent in the category of pending matters. As indicated in the first part of this justification, the reduction in total cases and matters pending was 35.8 percent. There were 365 fewer criminal and civil cases filed during fiscal 1960 than in the previous year. Cases terminated fell below those of the previous year by 1,517, and cases pending at the close of the year increased 1,080 cases above the total for fiscal 1959. The number of tax lien cases pending at the end of the fiscal year increased from 2,554 in 1959 to 3,056 in 1960, a rise of 502, or 19.6 percent.

The increase requested is designed to expand the legal and clerical staffs of the U.S. attorneys' offices (8 assistants and 12 clerks) to enable them to cope with the large number of pending cases and anticipated rise in new business. It is expected that productivity will rise considerably in the U.S. attorneys' offices in fiscal 1962. Cases under the recently enacted Labor Management Disclosure and Reporting Act will begin to be received from the Department of Labor.

In addition to the foregoing reason for the employment of additional personnel, there are other and equally compelling reasons for the expansion of the existing staffs. From the sheer standpoint of dollars and cents, the cost of additional attorneys and clerks would be returned to the Government many times over in the form of greatly increased collections. The possibilities inherent in this field are illustrated in the fact that a tentative count of 19 U.S. attorneys' offices disclosed that collections averaged considerably less than the collectible potential. The U.S. attorneys have never been furnished the complete staffs they require to handle all of their workload efficiently and to operate their collection efforts on a sufficiently broad basis. Since their offices have always been economically self-sufficient, returning much more than the cost of their operation, there would appear to be no reason to maintain such offices in a perennially understaffed condition. While the following descriptions of the work done during fiscal 1959 are impressive, it should be kept in mind that such achievements were accomplished at the cost of much overtime and overwork. The addition of much-needed additional personnel will not only lighten the heavy individual caseloads now being carried but will enable more time and careful consideration to be given each case. Moreover, the amount of work accomplished will be very materially increased.

In the first years of the backlog drive, when U.S. attorneys were urged to accelerate the disposition of older cases and matters, they very naturally cleared out the less complex litigation first. As these cases were terminated, the nature of the remaining backlog changed, so that, in general, the hard core of cases now pending represents protracted and complex litigation which consumes much more time and attention for its successful disposition. The importance of eliminating delay in the disposition of litigation can be readily appreciated when it is realized that each year of delay costs the Government between two and two and a half million dollars in interest charges alone. From this standpoint, the very considerable inroads made in the case backlog since fiscal 1954 have saved incalculable sums for the Government, while at the same time preparing

the way for further saving by bringing the existing caseload to a more current status.

In terms of cases filed and terminated, the past fiscal year was not as productive for U.S. attorneys as the previous year. Elsewhere in this statement we have pointed out that the lack of sufficient judges and the attendant curtailment of available court time for trying cases have had a very considerable impact on the number of cases terminated during the year. Another factor is the greatly increased time required for pretrial preparation and the protracted nature of the trials themselves. An important case of nationwide interest, such as the Dave Beck criminal tax case in the Western District of Washington, can tie up the work of the office for an extended period. Other examples of this type are the air crash cases, involving large planes, and which give rise sometimes to hundreds of suits, and the FHA "windfall" cases which are not only highly complex but also time consuming. While the present litigation reporting system is highly effective, it reflects only the number of cases pending or terminated, and not their complexity. Thus a decrease in the number of cases handled does not indicate a diminishing workload, but rather, that the cases being handled are requiring more time and preparation.

An important aspect of the work of the U.S. attorneys is the acquisition of land for Federal purposes. The authorization of dam reservoir projects and the development and testing of jet planes, guided missiles and other modern armament has greatly increased the need for land by the Federal Government. Lands work is perhaps the most time-consuming of all types of litigation because of the difficulty in locating owners, the number of tracts involved in each case, and the consequent number of landowners who must be served with the necessary process, etc. During the past fiscal year U.S. attorneys received requests for condemnation of 9,942 land tracts, or 36.6 percent more than in 1958; while requests for acquisition by direct purchase totaled 6,511 tracts. A total of 9,989 tracts were acquired through condemnation and 8,887 tracts through direct purchase, an increase of 16.2 percent. As of June 30, 1959 there were 38,423 tracts pending-27,608 in condemnation and 10,815 in direct purchase. As the average period between the filing of a compliant in a condemnation proceeding and the final closing of the case is over 31⁄2 years, it is clear that, aside from the new volume of work received in the coming year, the lands work in U.S. attorneys' offices will remain heavy for some time to come. Among the almost 40,000 tracts of land now pending are many which involve substantial monetary amounts. As interest in such cases runs at 6 percent per year, it is incumbent upon the U.S. attorneys to make every effort to keep their lands workload as current as possible. An unfortunate aspect of lands work is that it is not evenly distributed. In a few districts new acquisition projects may add thousands of land tracts to the workload, whereas in the remainder of the districts the workload may be relatively stable. This poses serious personnel problems, as an adequately staffed office becomes understaffed in the face of an avalanche of new lands work.

There has been a consistent rise in tax litigation during the past decade. The increase in fiscal 1959 was 7.2 percent and the 1960 rise was 4 percent. A total of $216,378,599 is involved in the cases received in fiscal 1960. As the amounts involved in tax cases have increased over the past 10 years, there has been a corresponding increase in the complexity of such work. The aggregate now involved in civil tax cases is approximately $600,860,869, or more than seven times the aggregate in fiscal 1947. The average case now involves about $173.208 as contrasted with $60,000 in fiscal 1947. The very considerable interest charges on such sums make it mandatory that they be disposed of as quickly as possible. Most civil tax work is done by departmental legal personnel but the expense attendant upon the litigation, such as printing of briefs, etc., is borne by the U.S. attorneys' offices; 1,080 civil tax cases were tried last year.

U.S. attorneys and their assistants are responsible for the trial of criminal tax cases. During fiscal 1959, 686 such cases were commenced. In addition to being difficult, complex and time consuming, cases in this category of litigation are also expensive to prepare and try.

For some time the districts of California, Northern and Southern, and New York, Southern, have handled civil tax refund suits. It is proposed to increase the number of U.S. attorneys' offices handling this type of tax litigation. As more and more offices take over this responsibility there will be a need for the additional employees referred to earlier in this justification. Moreover, it is hoped that in fiscal 1962 all need for using Internal Revenue Service attorneys

in any type of tax work in the U.S. attorneys' offices will have been eliminated. At present, because of the shortage of assistants to handle tax cases, some districts have been utilizing Internal Revenue Service attorneys. The assumption of this additional work by the regular staff will require an expansion of the existing work forces in the U.S. attorneys' offices.

In line with the overall increase in tax matters, tax lien cases increased 19.6 percent in the past year. This field of activity has registered the sharpest rise in any category of work. On June 30, 1955, there were 1,197 such cases pending. During the intervening 5 years the number of new cases received has doubled, and on June 30, 1960, there were 3,056 such cases pending, an increase of 155 percent. While these cases are generally not difficult to handle, their increasing volume cuts down proportionately on the time and effort which should be devoted to more important litigation.

In the past 4 fiscal years the number of criminal complaints received has increased by 7,793, or 7.8 percent, and there is no indication that this upward trend will subside. The review of these complaints, the selection of those which are to be tried, and the careful preparation necessary for their trial all add to the general expenses of the U.S. attorneys' offices. The preponderance of litigation in the field offices is criminal in nature and it must be carried forward promptly and vigorously in order to achieve effective Federal law enforcement.

While criminal cases filed each year outnumber civil cases, it is the processing of Government monetary claims and the defense of suits against the United States which occupy much of the time and effort of the personnel of the U.S. attorneys' offices. Wherever possible, the cost of litigation is avoided by arranging voluntary installment payment plans with those who owe money to the Government. As a result, the bulk of the moneys recovered each year is collected without suit or prosecution. To accelerate the disposition of civil cases and matters, the authority delegated to U.S. attorneys to compromise or settle such cases and matters has been greatly expanded. While this broadened authority has been of tremendous help to the field offices in curtailing the delay formerly attendant upon settlement, it has also added to the office workload. It is estimated that about one-third of the amount involved in pending civil cases (excluding Indian claims, tax claims, and antitrust cases) represents claims against the Government. In approximately one-third of these cases, interest will be assessed directly or will be an element in the settlement, and such interest will average about 4 percent. While U.S. attorneys have been extremely successful in defeating or reducing inflated claims against the Government so that recoveries generally average only 10 percent of the amount claimed, nevertheless the interest on even this small percentage represents a very considerable item of cost to the United States. It is the inexorable running of interest which makes it critically important that such litigaion be disposed of as quickly as possible. Additional personnel will permit more timely and complete consideration to be given to each individual case, and would thus enable the U.S. attorneys to reduce the time required for disposing of such cases, with a consequent reduction in the amount of interest entailed. It will also help to boost the rate of recovery of moneys due the Government in cases where the United States is plaintiff.

Results achieved by the U.S. attorneys in the past 4 years in reducing the case backlog and expediting the disposition of pending cases and matters have been possible only because the field office staffs have rendered many hours of overtime in their efforts to keep the workload current. To effectively cope with the ever-increasing volume of new business in all categories, it is vital that the U.S. attorneys' offices increase the levels of staffing and appropriations which have been furnished them up to this time. The operations of the U.S. attorneys' offices have a potent effect on the caliber of law enforcement throughout the districts they serve; consequently, it is essential that they be given the personnel and the necessary tools to carry out their responsibilities and continue the high standard which has been established in the field of enforcement of the Federal criminal statutes. Moreover, the Government's expansion in the areas of military procurement, social welfare, agricultural support programs, and related matters makes it a party to an ever larger proportion of civil litigation each year and increases its potential liability to claims. This mass of litigation cannot be effectively processed to disposition without sufficient funds to do the job assigned, and for the most part, items of expense such as travel, printing of briefs and records, also reporting services are not considered administratively controllable expenses.