Major cases are investigative matters, which, at their outset, are of national importance or require a massive commitment of resources throughout the FBI field offices.  The Bureau began using major case designators in 1987.  Examples of major cases include investigations of the 9/11 attacks; the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa.  In addition, the FBI has opened major cases related to preparation for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

Overall FBI Largest Major Cases

We obtained data for the total hours charged by FBI personnel to all major cases from FY 1996 through June 1, 2002, and we identified the top 15 cases in terms of combined agent and support personnel hours worked.⁴⁹  We discovered that 11 of these cases were related to terrorism.

By far, the case utilizing the most FBI human resources (special agent and support personnel combined) has been the investigation into the 9/11 attacks (PENTTBOMB).  Through June 1, 2002, the FBI had expended almost 4 million work hours on this investigation, which opened on September 12, 2001.  In comparison, the second largest major case, INNOCENT IMAGES, has been open since 1994 and has consumed about 628,000 work hours.⁵³

Major Case Activities:  Agents vs. Support Personnel

The major case data also highlights that different types of cases require different levels of effort from agents and support personnel.  As noted in Exhibit 7-1, CAMPCON was the third largest major case for the FBI as a whole.  However, this investigation into campaign contribution violations in the 1996 federal elections ranked seventh for agents and second for support personnel.  Conversely, the case related to the 2002 Winter Olympics ranked third for agents and fifth for support, resulting in an overall rank of fourth.

Special Agents – The top 15 cases for agents were generally the same as the top 15 cases worked overall, with a few exceptions.  The 15th largest case overall, USAMA BIN LADEN, failed to rank in the top 15 for agents (it was 16th with 82,967 hours).  Instead, the 15th largest case for agents was SPLITRAIL, an investigation into a train derailment in Arizona.  The following table presents the top 15 major cases worked by FBI special agents.

Support Personnel – The top 15 cases for support personnel include four cases that do not appear on either the overall or the agent lists.  They are MOZARK, MAJOR CASE 143, AT NORTHSIDE FAMILY PLANNING SERV – VICTIM, and COLUMBIA/HCA.  Also, the investigation into the anthrax incidents following 9/11 (AMERITHRAX), which began in October 2001, ranks much higher on the support chart (8th), than on either the agent or combined charts (14th).  The following table presents the top 15 major cases worked by FBI support personnel.

System Improvements

During our audit, we identified errors related to major case hours recorded in the FBI’s TURK system.  Although these errors were minor, we brought them to the attention of FBI officials.  Specifically, we identified work hours captured for major cases that did not exist.  We also identified Los Angeles as the FBI field office in which most of these errors occurred.

Because of our identification of these issues, a change was made to the TURK system.  Now, when time is charged to a major case, the system automatically checks that case number against a current master list of major case numbers.  The system will not accept invalid case numbers, preventing hours from being captured in non-existent major cases.  Further, FBI officials agreed to review the circumstances surrounding the one field office with the majority of the errors.

49. The FBI had 122 major cases open between October 1, 1995, and June 1, 2002.
50. Each of the major cases noted in this chapter is briefly described in Appendix II. Terrorism-related cases in Exhibits 7-1, 7-2, and 7-3 are identified in bolded italics.
51. The hours shown do not necessarily represent total hours charged to these cases. Instead, the number reflects the hours charged during our review period of October 1, 1995, to June 1, 2002.
52. This case was opened on May 14, 1999.
53. This case is an undercover operation related to internet-based child pornography. See Appendix II for a more detailed description.