As mandated by Congress, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit of legislative and public affairs expenses throughout the DOJ. Specifically, Pub. L. No. 110-161 (2007), Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, required that:

Within 200 days of enactment of this Act, the Inspector General shall conduct an audit and issue a report to the Committees on Appropriations of all expenses of the legislative and public affairs offices at each location of the Justice Department, its bureaus and agencies, including but not limited to every field office and headquarters component; the audit shall include any and all expenses related to these activities.

Audit Approach

To accomplish this audit, we:

• identified DOJ agencies, offices, and divisions that performed legislative or public affairs functions;

• obtained data for all fiscal year (FY) 2007 legislative and public affairs expenses and staffing within DOJ; and

• analyzed the legislative and public affairs expense data provided by the components.

For the purposes of this audit, legislative affairs functions were defined as: (1) coordinating legislative activity and communicating between DOJ components and Congress; (2) developing legislative proposals; (3) responding to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and DOJ Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) requests for information and questions for the record following congressional hearings; (4) preparing briefing papers in anticipation of congressional testimony, witness statements, congressional reports, views letters, and other legislative products.

Additionally, public affairs functions were defined as: (1) informing the public and press about component activities, priorities, and policies; (2) responding to inquiries from news organizations; and (3) coordinating DOJ responses to national media contacts.

Based on discussions with staff from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS Appropriations), we did not include in our definition of public affairs activities community outreach, responses to public solicitation of information (e.g., Freedom of Information Act requests), and component museum and historian staff.

Our audit covered FY 2007 legislative and public affairs expenses and staffing among all 40 DOJ components and the 94 U.S. Attorneys Offices (USAO).¹ Additionally, we interviewed officials at the OLA and the Office of Public Affairs (PAO) to obtain background information on legislative and public affairs functions, as well as at Justice Management Division (JMD) to obtain information on a similar congressional request that JMD received from congressional staff in FY 2007.

To identify DOJ agencies, offices, and divisions that perform legislative or public affairs functions, we administered a survey to all DOJ components and USAOs. We followed up with a data request for legislative and public affairs expense and staffing information from DOJ components and USAOs that we determined had performed significant legislative and public affairs functions in FY 2007.² Finally, we compiled and analyzed the expense and staffing data provided by the components.³

Results in Brief

We determined that DOJ had 25 components and 58 USAOs performing significant legislative and public affairs functions in FY 2007, with combined associated expenses totaling $49. 35 million and 476 employees performing these functions throughout FY 2007, as shown in Table 1.⁴ The 476 employees consisted of 269 headquarters staff and 207 field office and USAO staff. The 476 staff also included 24 who were detailed to perform legislative or public affairs functions throughout FY 2007. We found more than twice as many DOJ employees performing public affairs functions (325 positions) compared to those assigned legislative affairs duties (151 positions).

Of the $49.35 million in FY 2007 legislative and public affairs expenses reported, 88 percent was for personnel expenses and 12 percent was for non‑personnel expenses such as travel, space charges, communications, printing, supplies, and equipment.

TABLE 1
FISCAL YEAR 2007 DOJ LEGISLATIVE AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
EXPENSES AND STAFFING⁵

	NO. OF POSITIONS6	PERSONNEL EXPENSES	NON-PERSONNEL EXPENSES	TOTAL EXPENSES
LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS	151	$13,623,621	$2,567,729	$16,191,350
PUBLIC AFFAIRS	325	29,787,127	3,374,095	33,161,223
TOTAL	476	43,410,748	$5,941,824	49,352,573

The legislative and public affairs expenses of $49.35 million accounted for approximately 0.2 percent of the entire FY 2007 DOJ budget.

During FY 2007, DOJ was funded by a series of continuing resolutions that carried forward from FY 2006 restrictions on the number of OLA and PAO staffing. Specifically, OLA was limited to 26 permanent positions and 21 full-time equivalent (FTE) work years.⁷ PAO was limited to 17 permanent positions and 22 FTEs.

Our review of FY 2007 OLA and PAO staffing levels indicates that O LA complied with its permanent positions ceiling, and PAO complied with its permanent positions and FTE ceilings. However, we also found that OLA exceeded its 21 FTE ceiling by 2.8 FTE work years.

Personnel expenses in FY 2007 for DOJ legislative affairs totaled $13.62 million. Five DOJ components accounted for $9.89 million or 72.6 percent of DOJ’s total legislative affairs personnel expenses, as shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2
DOJ COMPONENTS WITH THE HIGHEST LEGISLATIVE
AFFAIRS PERSONNEL EXPENSES

COMPONENT	PERSONNEL EXPENSES	PERCENT OF DOJ TOTAL
Federal Bureau of Investigation	$ 3,763,292	27.6%
Office of Legislative Affairs	2,045,555	15.0%
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives	1,389,305	10.2%
Office of Legal Policy	1,372,362	10.1%
Drug Enforcement Administration	1,321,621	9.7%
TOTAL	$9,892,135	72.6%

FY 2007 expenses for public affairs personnel totaled $29.79 million, and the top 5 components accounted for $27.22 million or 91.4 percent of DOJ’s total public affairs personnel expenses, as shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3
DOJ COMPONENTS WITH THE HIGHEST PUBLIC
AFFAIRS PERSONNEL EXPENSES

COMPONENT	PERSONNEL EXPENSES	PERCENT OF DOJ TOTAL
Federal Bureau of Investigation	$ 11,570,450	38.8%
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives	5,355,929	18.0%
U.S. Attorneys Offices	5,008,627	16.8%
Drug Enforcement Administration	3,353,697	11.3%
Office of Public Affairs	1,933,899	6.5%
TOTAL	$27,222,602	91.4%

To ensure that all staff conducting relevant public affairs activities were included in our audit, we also obtained a list of all DOJ General Schedule (GS) series 1035 Public Affairs Specialists from the National Finance Center, the organization that processes the DOJ payroll. Based on our analysis, we identified five staff that should have been included in the public affairs expense and staffing data for this report, but were not reported by the components. We notified the responsible components of the oversight and the five staff were subsequently included. Additionally, we identified two staff that were reassigned to duties other than public affairs prior to FY 2007.

Our report contains detailed information on the full results of our audit of legislative and public affairs expenses within DOJ. The remaining sections of this Executive Summary summarize in more detail our audit findings.

Components Performing Legislative or Public Affairs in FY 2007

To identify DOJ agencies, offices, and divisions that performed legislative or public affairs functions in FY 2007, we administered a survey to all 40 DOJ components and the 94 USAOs. We received a 100-percent response. Our survey indicated that 25 of the 40 DOJ components and 58 USAOs performed significant legislative or public affairs functions during FY 2007. As mentioned previously, for purposes of this audit the term “significant legislative or public affairs functions” means staff performing legislative or public affairs functions for an average of 25 percent or more of their time per week in FY 2007, during the period in which they were assigned to perform these functions. These 25 components are listed in Table 4.

TABLE 4
DOJ COMPONENTS PERFORMING SIGNIFICANT
LEGISLATIVE OR PUBLIC AFFAIRS FUNCTIONS

ANTITRUST DIVISION (ATR) BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES (ATF) FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS (BOP) CIVIL DIVISION (CIV) CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION (CRT) COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE (CRS) CRIMINAL DIVISION (CRM) DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION (DEA) ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION (ENRD) EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW (EOIR) EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR U.S. ATTORNEYS (EOUSA) AND 58 USAOS EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR U.S. TRUSTEES (EOUST) FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI)

INTERPOL - U.S. NATIONAL CENTRAL BUREAU (USNCB) JUSTICE MANAGEMENT DIVISION (JMD) NATIONAL SECURITY DIVISION (NSD) OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES (COPS) OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND PRIVACY (OIP) OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS (OJP) OFFICE OF LEGAL POLICY (OLP) OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS (OLA) OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS (PAO) OFFICE ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN (OVW) TAX DIVISION (TAX) U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE (USMS)

The remaining 15 DOJ components reported performing incidental (less than 25 percent of any one person’s time during the period in which they were assigned to perform these functions) or no legislative or public affairs functions, as shown in Table 5.

TABLE 5
DOJ COMPONENTS PERFORMING INCIDENTAL OR
NO LEGISLATIVE OR PUBLIC AFFAIRS FUNCTIONS

FOREIGN CLAIMS SETTLEMENT COMMISSION (FCSC) NATIONAL DRUG INTELLIGENCE CENTER (NDIC) OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL (OAAG) OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (OAG) OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL (ODAG) OFFICE OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ODR) OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL DETENTION TRUSTEE (OFDT) OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL (OIG) OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL AND PUBLIC LIAISON (OIPL) OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL (OLC) OFFICE OF THE PARDON ATTORNEY (OPA) OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY (OPR) OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL (OSG) PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY ADVISORY OFFICE (PRAO) U.S. PAROLE COMMISSION (USPC)

To obtain data for all FY 2007 legislative and public affairs expenses and staffing within DOJ, we distributed an expense and staffing data request to the 25 components identified in our survey as performing significant legislative or public affairs functions in FY 2007.⁸ We also sent our expenses and staffing data request to all 94 USAOs. However, the responses indicated that only 58 USAOs reported staff performing significant levels of legislative or public affairs functions.

Legislative and Public Affairs by DOJ Component

The DOJ components and USAOs identified in the OIG survey as performing significant legislative and public affairs functions reported FY 2007 expenses totaling $49.35 million, as shown in Table 6.

TABLE 6
FISCAL YEAR 2007 DOJ LEGISLATIVE AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
EXPENSES BY COMPONENT

COMPONENT	LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS EXPENSES	PUBLIC AFFAIRS EXPENSES	COMBINED EXPENSES
FBI	$ 3,814,226	$ 11,953,630	$15,767,856
ATF	1,415,897	5,481,585	6,897,482
USAOs9	182,329	6,356,003	6,538,332
DEA	1,492,281	3,802,965	5,295,246
OLA	3,260,559	0	3,260,559
PAO	0	2,733,233	2,733,233
OLP	2,078,346	0	2,078,346
USMS	810,931	409,370	1,220,301
BOP	484,432	648,388	1,132,820
OJP	328,284	652,794	981,078
EOIR	648,081	320,774	968,855
JMD	688,920	0	688,920
COPS	276,850	192,550	469,400
EOUST	62,644	177,373	240,017
CRS	0	184,995	184,995
CRM	161,976	0	161,976
USNCB	0	160,257	160,257
CRT	96,958	17,369	114,327
ATR	50,731	58,080	108,811
OVW	72,116	11,857	83,973
OIP	82,793	0	82,793
TAX	67,616	0	67,616
NSD	59,890	0	59,890
ENRD	45,288	0	45,288
CIV	10,202	0	10,202
TOTAL	$16,191,350	$33,161,223	$49,352,573

The FBI, ATF, DEA and USAOs accounted for $34.5 million or 69.9 percent of the total DOJ legislative and public affairs expenses. However, legislative and public affairs expenses only accounted for 0.3 percent, 0.7 percent, 0.3 percent, and 0.4 percent of the FBI, ATF, DEA, and USAOs FY 2007 budgets, respectively.

The 25 DOJ components and 58 USAOs reported 476 staff performing legislative and public functions throughout FY 2007. The 476 staff included 269 headquarters staff and 207 field office and USAO staff, as shown in Table 7.

TABLE 7
FISCAL YEAR 2007 DOJ LEGISLATIVE AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
STAFFING BY COMPONENT

	LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS			PUBLIC AFFAIRS			COMBINED
COMPONENT	HQ STAFF	FIELD OFFICE STAFF	TOTAL	HQ STAFF	FIELD OFFICE STAFF	TOTAL	TOTAL
FBI	32	0	32	42	82	124	156
USAOs	1	1	2	0	80	80	82
ATF	13	0	13	15	23	38	51
DEA	11	0	11	15	21	36	47
OLP	25	0	25	0	0	0	25
OLA	22	0	22	0	0	0	22
PAO	0	0	0	21	0	21	21
USMS	7	0	7	6	0	6	13
BOP	4	0	4	6	0	6	10
OJP	3	0	3	6	0	6	9
EOIR	5	0	5	2	0	2	7
JMD	7	0	7	0	0	0	7
COPS	4	0	4	1	0	1	5
CRM	3	0	3	0	0	0	3
CRT	2	0	2	1	0	1	3
ATR	1	0	1	1	0	1	2
EOUST	1	0	1	1	0	1	2
NSD	2	0	2	0	0	0	2
OIP	2	0	2	0	0	0	2
OVW	2	0	2	0	0	0	2
CIV	1	0	1	0	0	0	1
CRS	0	0	0	1	0	1	1
ENRD	1	0	1	0	0	0	1
TAX	1	0	1	0	0	0	1
USNCB	0	0	0	1	0	1	1
TOTAL	150	1	151	119	206	325	476

Appropriations Law – Staffing Restrictions

Since FY 1996, annual appropriation laws have placed specific restrictions on the number of staff permitted to perform legislative affairs functions for OLA and public affairs functions for PAO. The terms of these staffing restrictions have varied from FYs 1996 through 2007. During FY 2007, DOJ was funded by a series of continuing resolutions that carried forward certain FY 2006 positional requirements for OLA and PAO. Specifically, OLA was “not to exceed 26 permanent positions, 21 full-time equivalent work years...” and PAO was “not to exceed 17 permanent positions, 22 full-time equivalent work years....”¹⁰ The legislation further stated that “ the OLA and PAO may utilize, on a non‑reimbursable basis details of career employees within the ceilings provided.” In contrast to prior fiscal years, the FY 2008 appropriations law does not include any specific staffing ceilings related to OLA and PAO.¹¹

Our review of FY 2007 OLA and PAO staffing levels indicates that OLA was within its permanent positions ceiling, and PAO was within its permanent positions and FTE ceilings as identified in the appropriations language. However, we found that OLA exceeded its 21 FTE ceiling by 2.8 FTE work years in FY 2007.

JMD, OLA, and PAO share the responsibility of ensuring compliance with the staffing ceilings mandated by the appropriations law. However, because of the limited size of OLA and PAO, JMD monitors OLA’s and PAO’s compliance with budget requirements. JMD disagrees with the OIG’s conclusion that OLA exceeded its FTE ceiling. According to JMD, OLA and PAO were within the staffing ceilings mandated by appropriations requirements.

Table 8 shows the OLA and PAO staffing ceilings, actual average daily permanent positions, and FTE work years for FY 2007. It includes our calculation of these numbers, as well as JMD’s calculations.

TABLE 8
ANALYSIS OF OLA AND PAO FISCAL YEAR 2007
PERMANENT POSITIONS AND FTES

	PERMANENT POSITIONS12			FTE WORK YEARS13
	CEILING	OIG DAILY AVERAGE	JMD DAILY AVERAGE	CEILING	OIG ACTUAL	JMD ACTUAL
OLA	26	23.2	23.0	21	23.8	17.0
PAO	17	16.3	14.3	22	17.6	17.1

As detailed above, the appropriations language allowed OLA 5 more permanent positions than FTEs, while it allowed PAO 5 fewer permanent positions than FTEs. We noted that these were unusual allocations, because it allowed OLA 26 permanent positions but only 21 FTEs, and conversely allowed PAO only 17 permanent positions but 22 FTEs. Achieving these ceilings would require that OLA use a significant number of part‑time permanent staff, while PAO would be required to use a significant number of temporary or term staff.

According to OMB Circular A-11, non-reimbursable detailed staff are included in the providing component’s permanent positions and FTE ceilings; the receiving component, such as OLA and PAO, would not have to count such detailed personnel against their staffing levels. However, we believe the appropriations language clearly states that while OLA and PAO may utilize non‑reimbursable detailed staff, the use of such non‑reimbursable detailed staff must be within the permanent positions and FTE ceilings provided by the appropriations law. As a result, we used the specific terms of the appropriations language in our analysis, and we included all staff performing legislative affairs functions for OLA and all staff performing public affairs functions for PAO.¹⁴ However, we did not count any temporary or term staff in the permanent positions ceilings.

Office of Legislative Affairs Staffing

The 23.2 daily average permanent positions we calculated for OLA is reflective of the total number of staff that performed legislative affairs activities for OLA during FY 2007, excluding one term staff. Therefore, we concluded that OLA was within its 26 permanent positions ceiling.

Pursuant to OMB Circular A-11, non‑reimbursable detailed staff are not included in a receiving component’s permanent positions or FTE ceilings. However, the appropriations language specifically states that OLA may utilize, on a non‑reimbursable basis, career detailed staff “within the ceilings provided.” JMD officials believed that the appropriations language was intended to limit the number of staff performing legislative affairs functions for OLA. As a result, in a good faith effort to meet the intent of the appropriations language and contrary to standard budgeting practices, JMD included 9 of the 11 non ‑reimbursable staff detailed to OLA throughout FY 2007 in its calculations of OLA’s permanent positions. JMD did not include one non-career Schedule C staff in its calculations of OLA’s permanent positions because JMD interpreted the appropriations language to state that only career detailed staff should be included in the ceilings. Additionally, both the OIG and JMD did not include one term staff.

However, JMD did not include non‑reimbursable detailed staff in its calculations of OLA’s FTEs. In calculating OLA’s FY 2007 FTEs, JMD followed OMB Circular A-11 and did not include the 11 non‑reimbursable detailed staff. JMD stated that including the detailed staff in the FTE ceiling would not make sense because an agency cannot have 26 permanent positions authorized and expect to stay within the 21 FTE ceiling unless a significant number of staff were permanent part-time employees.

We do not agree with JMD’s methodology for calculating FTEs. We believe the appropriations language stating that OLA may utilize, on a non‑reimbursable basis, career detailed staff “within the ceilings provided,” requires that non‑reimbursable detailed staff be included in both the permanent positions and FTE ceilings, not just the permanent positions ceiling. As a result, we included all 11 non‑reimbursable staff, including the non‑career Schedule C staff, detailed to OLA throughout FY 2007 in our calculations of OLA’s FTEs. We found that during FY 2007, OLA exceeded its 21 FTE ceiling by 2.8 FTE work years.

Office of Public Affairs Staffing

We found that PAO was within the FY 2007 FTE ceiling of 22 required by the appropriations language. The 17.6 FTE work years we calculated for PAO is reflective of the total number of staff that performed public affairs activities for PAO during FY 2007, including staff whose salaries and benefits were paid for by another component under a reimbursable agreement and term staff detailed to PAO on a non‑reimbursable basis. The 17.1 FTEs that JMD calculated include the 3 staff funded under a reimbursable agreement but does not include 3 term staff detailed to PAO throughout FY 2007.

Further, in our analysis of PAO’s permanent positions, we found that on a daily average during FY 2007 PAO used 16.3 permanent positions, which was within the 17 permanent positions ceiling. W e included three PAO staff funded through agreements with the Criminal Division, Antitrust Division, and National Security Division in our analysis of PAO’s permanent positions ceiling. In our judgment, these staff fall under the definition of a permanent position since their appointments were for more than 1 year.¹⁵ Further, these staff are PAO employees.

In its calculations of PAO’s 14.3 permanent positions, JMD did not include the 3 staff whose salaries and benefits were funded through reimbursable agreements. According to JMD officials, when the salaries and benefits of staff within a component are paid for by another component through a reimbursable agreement, these staff are not counted in the permanent positions ceiling of either component. As a result, JMD did not include these staff in its calculations of PAO’s permanent positions. We do not agree with this methodology and included these staff in our calculations.

Our overall conclusion is that for FY 2007 OLA complied with its permanent positions ceiling, and PAO complied with its permanent positions and FTE ceilings. However, we also found that OLA exceeded its 21 FTE ceiling by 2.8 FTE work years.

Analysis of Legislative and Public Affairs Personnel Expenses

The personnel expenses provided by the components and the USAOs were based on actual amounts spent. As a result, personnel expenses were comparable among components and USAOs. Conversely, the non‑personnel expenses were based on either actual or estimated amounts, and were not comparable among the components and USAOs. Therefore, in analyzing legislative and public affairs expenses among the components and USAOs we based our analysis on personnel expenses only, which accounted for $43.41 million or 88 percent of total expenses. The $43.41 million total was comprised of $13.62 million in legislative affairs personnel expenses and $29.79 million in public affairs personnel expenses.

Legislative Affairs Personnel Expenses

We found that five components accounted for $9.89 million or 72.6 percent of DOJ’s $13.62 million total legislative affairs personnel expenses: (1) FBI, (2) OLA, (3) ATF, (4) OLP, and (5) DEA. Figure 1 depicts DOJ components’ and USAOs’ FY 2007 legislative affairs personnel expenses as a percentage of the overall DOJ legislative affairs personnel expenditures.

FIGURE 1
ANALYSIS OF FISCAL YEAR 2007 LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS
PERSONNEL EXPENSES¹⁶
(DOLLARS IN MILLIONS)

Source: OIG data request of DOJ components on legislative and public affairs

More detail about the legislative affairs activities of the top five components is provided below:

1. FBI – The FBI reported FY 2007 legislative affairs personnel expenses of $3.76 million, which accounted for 27.6 percent of the total DOJ legislative affairs personnel expenses. The FBI’s legislative affairs functions generally consist of acting as the FBI’s primary liaison to Congress, particularly the nine primary Senate and House committees that oversee FBI funding and operations; vetting congressional materials such as proposed legislation, testimony, letters, reports and other materials; and preparing consolidated responses for transmittal to Congress. Responsibilities include keeping Congress informed about FBI activities, as well as responding to oversight inquiries, requests for documents and constituent matters. Legislative affairs functions were performed by 32 full-time FBI staff, of which 30 were at the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs and other headquarters sections, 1 was on detail to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and 1 was on detail to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

2. OLA – OLA reported FY 2007 legislative affairs personnel expenses of $2.05 million, which accounted for 15 percent of the DOJ’s total legislative affairs personnel expenses. Legislative affairs functions were performed by 22 full-time OLA staff. Additionally, throughout FY 2007 11 staff were detailed to OLA on a non‑reimbursable basis from CIV, COPS, CRM, ENRD, EOIR, EOUST, JMD and OLP.¹⁷

3. ATF – ATF reported FY 2007 legislative affairs personnel expenses of $1.39 million, which accounted for 10.2 percent of the total DOJ legislative affairs personnel expenses. ATF’s legislative affairs functions generally consist of acting as a liaison for communications between Congress and ATF, preparing and managing testimony for hearings, reviewing proposed legislation, and advising ATF management on legislative affairs. Legislative affairs function were performed by 13 full-time ATF staff, of which 11 were at ATF’s Office of Public and Governmental Affairs, 1 was on detail to the House Judiciary Committee, and 1 was on detail to the House Appropriations Committee.

4. OLP – OLP reported FY 2007 legislative affairs personnel expenses of $1.37 million, which accounted for 10.1 percent of the total DOJ legislative affairs personnel expenses. OLP’s legislative affairs functions generally consist of developing and coordinating DOJ’s legislative proposals for transmission to Congress, assisting in preparing witnesses to testify before Congress, drafting congressional correspondence, and briefing congressional staff. Legislative affairs functions were performed by 19 OLP staff, 4 staff detailed from USAOs, and 1 staff detailed from the Civil Division. Additionally, 1 staff was detailed from OLP to OLA to perform legislative affairs functions on a full-time, non-reimbursable basis. Finally, JMD detailed one staff member to OLP on a non‑reimbursable basis.

5. DEA – The DEA reported FY 2007 legislative affairs personnel expenses of $1.32 million, which accounted for 9.7 percent of the total DOJ legislative affairs personnel expenses. DEA’s legislative affairs functions generally consist of responding to congressional requests, ranging from member information requests, constituent information requests, and topic-specific briefing requests. Legislative affairs functions were performed by 11 DEA staff within the DEA’s Office of Congressional and Public Affairs and other headquarters sections. Of the 11 staff, 10 were full-time and 1 employee performed legislative affairs as a significant collateral duty.

Public Affairs Personnel Expenses

We found that five components accounted for $27.22 million or 91.4 percent of DOJ’s $29.79 million in public affairs personnel expenses: (1) FBI, (2) ATF, (3) 58 USAOs, (4) DEA, and (5) PAO. Figure 2 depicts DOJ components’ and USAOs’ FY 2007 public affairs personnel expenses as a percentage of the overall DOJ public affairs personnel expenditures.

FIGURE 2
ANALYSIS OF FISCAL YEAR 2007 PUBLIC AFFAIRS PERSONNEL EXPENSES
(DOLLARS IN MILLIONS)

Source: OIG data request of DOJ components on legislative and public affairs

More detail about the public affairs activities of the top five components is provided below:

1. FBI – The FBI reported FY 2007 public affairs personnel expenses of $11.57 million, which accounted for 38.8 percent of the DOJ’s total public affairs personnel expenses. The FBI's public affairs functions consist of responding to media inquiries; providing regular briefings to the media; and educating the public about crime, terrorism, and FBI activities. Public affairs functions were performed by 124 FBI staff, consisting of 42 full‑time staff at the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs and other headquarters sections, and 82 staff located throughout the FBI’s 56 field offices. Of the 82 field office staff, the FBI reported that 23 exclusively performed public affairs activities while another 59 performed public affairs as a significant collateral duty.

2. ATF – ATF reported FY 2007 public affairs personnel expenses of $5.36 million, which accounted for 18 percent of the total DOJ public affairs personnel expenses. ATF’s public affairs functions generally consist of providing information on its activities, priorities, and policies to the media and public. Public affairs functions were performed by 38 ATF staff consisting of 15 full-time staff at ATF’s Office of Public and Governmental Affairs and 23 full-time staff located at its field divisions.¹⁸

3. EOUSA & 58 USAOs – The EOUSA and 58 USAOs reported FY 2007 public affairs personnel expenses of $5.01 million, which accounted for 16.8 percent of the total DOJ public affairs personnel expenses. The USAOs’ public affairs functions generally consist of issuing press releases, responding to press inquiries, and coordinating press conferences. Public affairs functions were performed by 80 USAO staff consisting of 29 full-time staff and 51 staff that performed public affairs as a significant collateral duty within the 58 USAOs that reported performing a significant amount of public affairs functions in FY 2007.

4. DEA – The DEA reported FY 2007 public affairs personnel expenses of $3.35 million, which accounted for 11.3 percent of the total DOJ public affairs personnel expenses. The DEA’s public affairs functions generally consist of maintaining liaison with the media and the public. Public affairs functions were performed by 36 DEA staff consisting of 15 staff at the DEA’s Office of Congressional and Public Affairs (8 full‑time staff and 7 collateral duty staff) and 21 field office staff (9 full‑time staff and 12 collateral duty staff).

5. PAO – The PAO reported FY 2007 public affairs personnel expenses of $1.93 million, which accounted for 6.5 percent of the total DOJ public affairs personnel expenses. The PAO generally serves as the principal point of contact for DOJ with the news media. Public affairs functions were performed by 21 full-time PAO staff; two of which were detailed to other agencies on a non-reimbursable basis for part of FY 2007, during which time they were not performing public affairs functions. In addition to the 21 PAO staff, one staff member was detailed to PAO on a non‑reimbursable basis from the ATR.

Detailed Staffing Arrangements

As part of our data request, we asked components to provide information on the number of staff detailed to or from other components for legislative and public affairs purposes. The 476 staff reported by the components and USAOs as involved in legislative and public affairs activities included 24 staff who were detailed to perform these functions during FY 2007. Specifically, throughout FY 2007:

• 11 staff were detailed to OLA,

• 6 staff were detailed to OLP,

• 4 staff were detailed to Congress,

• 1 staff was detailed to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence,

• 1 staff member was detailed to PAO, and

• 1 staff member was detailed to OVW.

Conclusion and Recommendations

This audit identified the legislative and public affairs expenses and staffing within all DOJ components and USAOs. Based on a 100‑percent response to our survey, we identified 25 DOJ components and 58 USAOs who had at least one staff member who performed legislative or public affairs functions at least 25 percent each week on average in FY 2007, during the period in which they were assigned to perform these functions. These components and USAOs reported FY 2007 expenses totaling $49.35 million, which equates to 0.2 percent of the total DOJ FY 2007 budget. The FBI, ATF, DEA, and USAOs accounted for $34.5 million or 69.9 percent of the total DOJ legislative and public affairs expenses.

The 25 DOJ components and 58 USAOs also reported 476 staff performing legislative and public affairs functions throughout FY 2007, which consisted of 269 headquarters staff and 207 field office staff. The FBI, ATF, DEA, and USAOs accounted for 336 or 70.6 percent of the total DOJ staff performing these functions either full‑time or as significant collateral duty.

From our analysis of the legislative and public affairs staffing data, overall we found that for FY 2007 OLA complied with its permanent positions ceiling and PAO complied with its permanent positions and FTE ceilings as required by congressional appropriations language. However, we also found that OLA exceeded its 21 FTE ceiling by 2.8 FTE work years during FY 2007. We recommend that JMD ensure OLA complies with future staffing restrictions mandated by appropriations law. JMD disagrees with the OIG’s conclusion that OLA exceeded its FTE ceiling.

Additionally, our analysis of DOJ personnel categorized as GS-1035 Public Affairs Specialists staff found five staff that were not included in the public affairs expense and staffing data. We notified the responsible components of the oversight and the five staff were subsequently included. We also determined other errors in personnel classifications related to Public Affairs Specialists. As a result, the OIG made one additional recommendation to ensure that staffing information is properly classified.

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1. Appendix IV and V include lists of DOJ components and USAOs included in our survey.

2. For the purposes of this audit, we defined “significant” as at least one staff performing legislative or public affairs functions for an average of 25 percent or more of their time per week in FY 2007, during the period in which they were assigned to perform these functions.

3. Our audit did not assess the adequacy of component information systems, internal controls, or estimation methodologies for the data provided to the OIG. Nonetheless, we attempted to ensure that our audit methodology met the intent of Congress through discussions with CJS Appropriations staff.

4. Generally, our audit only included staff performing legislative or public affairs functions for an average of 25 percent or more of their time per week in FY 2007, during the period in which they were assigned to perform these functions. However, we included all staff funded by OLA and PAO, since these components are dedicated to performing legislative and public affairs functions, respectively.

5. Throughout this report differences in total amounts are due to rounding. Additionally, differences in total percentages as compared to the sum of individual component percentages are due to rounding.

6. It should be noted that the 476 staff performing legislative or public affairs functions does not equate to 476 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions. Because staff performing legislative or public affairs as a significant collateral duty were required to estimate a percentage of time performing these functions, generally we were unable to calculate FTEs.

7. A permanent position is defined by 5 C.F.R. 531.403 as a “position filled by an employee whose appointment is not designated as temporary by law and does not have a definite time limitation of 1 year or less. ‘Permanent position’ includes a position to which an employee is promoted on a temporary or term basis for at least 1 year.” An FTE is “the total number of regular straight-time hours (i.e., not including overtime or holiday hours) worked by employees divided by the number of compensable hours applicable to each fiscal year. Annual leave, sick leave, compensatory time off and other approved leave categories are considered ‘hours worked’ for purposes of defining FTE employment.”

8. Although the Civil Division was initially excluded from our legislative and public affairs expense and staffing data request, we subsequently identified and included legislative affairs expenses for this component. Specifically, during FY 2007 the Civil Division detailed 1 staff member to OLA on a non-reimbursable basis for a 12-month period that included the last month of FY 2007 and continued into FY 2008. During the period of the detail this staff member performed legislative affairs exclusively, and thus was included in the expense and staffing data for this report.

9. Throughout this report, we combined the total expenses and number of positions of the 58 USAOs and the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys into one component, referred to as “USAOs.”

10. Pub. L. No. 109-108 (2005), Science, State, Justice, Commerce, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006.

11. Pub. L. No. 110-161 (2007), Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008.

12. Our analysis of the actual number of permanent positions for OLA and PAO was based on the average number of onboard staff, including detailed staff, each day during FY 2007. We did not include temporary or term staff in our calculations of permanent positions.

13. FTEs equal the total number of regular straight-time hours (i.e., not including overtime or holiday hours) worked by employees divided by the number of compensable hours applicable to each fiscal year (2,080 hours for FY 2007). Annual leave, sick leave, compensatory time off, and other approved leave categories are considered “hours worked” for purposes of defining FTEs.

14. It should be noted that PAO had two staff that were detailed to other agencies on a non-reimbursable basis during FY 2007, during which time they were not performing public affairs functions. As a result, we did not include the period these staff were on detail in our calculations of permanent positions and FTEs.

15. A permanent position is defined by 5 C.F.R. 531.403 as a “position filled by an employee whose appointment is not designated as temporary by law and does not have a definite time limitation of 1 year or less. ‘Permanent position’ includes a position to which an employee is promoted on a temporary or term basis for at least 1 year.”

16. For reporting purposes, the “Other” consisted of the following 12 components: (1) ATR, (2) CIV, (3) CRM, (4) CRS, (5) CRT, (6) ENRD, (7) EOUST, (8) NSD, (9) OIP, (10) OVW, (11) TAX, and (12) USNCB INTERPOL.

17. The expenses and staffing information associated with these positions were not included in OLA’s staffing and expense totals since the expense and staffing information for these positions were included by the components providing the detailees.

18. ATF currently has 25 field divisions; however, during FY 2007 ATF only had 23 field divisions.