U.S. Justice denies terror trial drop-off

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Justice Department has challenged claims it has rejected 87 percent of terror cases brought to it for prosecution by the FBI this year.

The disputed report was issued by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse (N.Y.) University, which claimed federal prosecutions fell from 118 defendants in fiscal year 2002, to 19 defendants from Oct. 1, 2005, to June 30.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said TRAC's analysis was an "astonishing misunderstanding" of real data and told USA Today the department's rejection rate was 67 percent, not the 87 percent reported.

"This report contains inaccurate figures, relies on a faulty assumption that every referral from an investigative agency should result in a criminal prosecution and ignores the reality of how the war on terrorism is being conducted," Roehrkasse told the newspaper.

One of the report's authors, Susan Long, said the data used were obtained from the Justice Department's Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.