3-18.100
United States Attorneys' Offices Surveys
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All surveys, questionnaires, requests for information, or visits from
one or more United States Attorneys' Offices (USAOs) by Department of
Justice offices, boards, divisions, field offices, bureaus, or United States
Attorneys; or by other persons or organizations outside the Department,
including the private sector; other U.S. Government offices; Members of
Congress or Committees; or the General Accounting Office (GAO) should be
submitted to the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) for
coordination to conserve the resources and time of USAOs personnel, to
prevent unnecessary duplication of research and survey efforts, and to
ensure that alternate sources of data are utilized when available.
Congressional requests shall continue to be submitted by Congress to the
Office of Legislative Affairs, who shall then submit the request directly to
EOUSA. GAO requests should go through the Counsel to the Director, EOUSA.
All non GAO surveys, questionnaires, requests for i
nformation should be submitted to Donna Enos, Office of the
Director, EOUSA, for
coordination. Please contact the Counsel to the Director, EOUSA,
for assistance.
The request for a survey should consist of a list of proposed USAOs to
participate, a proposed questionnaire or survey form, detailing the specific
information sought and briefly summarizing the background and the
litigative, legislative or other purpose for which the information is
sought. Whenever possible, questionnaire forms shall be provided for replies
by United States Attorneys. Requests for site visits should include: the
sites to be visited, the desired dates for the visits, the overall scope and
objectives of the audit, the persons or types of persons sought to be
interviewed, and the documents or types of documents sought to be
reviewed.
The requesting unit and the EOUSA shall cooperate to make any necessary
modifications in proposed surveys prior to dissemination and shall request
the participation of United States Attorneys. The EOUSA shall request
United States Attorneys participation and coordinate the scheduling of
visits. The requesting units shall fully inform the Director, EOUSA, of the
results of surveys and provide copies of all written reports and other
derivative products.
3-18.110
General Accounting Office—Authority for Audits
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The General Accounting Office (GAO) is part of the legislative branch
of the government. It has statutory authority to examine departmental
activities and we are obliged to cooperate with that agency. However,
certain information may be restricted under law (e.g. grand jury material)
or because of the significant risks involved with disclosure. In addition
the functions of the Department serve important public interests and should
not be interrupted unduly. As a result, we must balance our obligation to
honor GAO authority to conduct reviews with our duty to maintain necessary
confidences and to conduct effectively our public business.
3-18.120
Procedures Regarding GAO Contacts
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Before responding to a GAO request, a USAO should immediately consult
with the Counsel to the Director, EOUSA.
[cited in USAM 3-1.200]
3-18.200
Urgent Reports—Litigation—Pending and New
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The following Urgent Report procedures should be followed for
communicating major developments to the Department of Justice in new or
pending important cases.
- Where a Justice Department litigating division has
assumed
responsibility for a case, the Department of Justice trial attorney
shall notify
promptly the appropriate supervisor within that division of any
major development
in an important case. One week advance notice should be provided
to the
appropriate supervisor whenever a major case development can be
anticipated. A
supervisor shall immediately report such information to the
appropriate Assistant
Attorney General. Upon receipt of the Urgent Report, the Assistant
Attorney
General shall notify the Associate Attorney General, when
appropriate, the Deputy
Attorney General and the Attorney General. Urgent Report
notification should be
made by a memorandum signed by the reporting attorney even where
verbal
communication has already taken place. Care should be taken to
assure that
material classified as "confidential" or above, not be transmitted
over the EMAIL
system but rather be transmitted over a secure STU-III Tr
iad facsimile.
- In cases where the United States Attorney's office controls
litigation,
communication of major developments should be made to the Executive
Office for
United States Attorneys as soon as possible, and where the
development can be
controlled, at least one week in advance. Again, communication of
an Urgent
Report via EMAIL is required even where verbal notice has been
given. The
Executive Office for United States Attorneys shall assume
responsibility for
further dissemination of the Urgent Report.
- In cases where the United States Attorney's office and a
Department of
Justice litigating division are jointly involved in litigation, the
United States
Attorney's office should report major developments to the Executive
Office for
United States Attorneys via the EMAIL Urgent Report system. Verbal
discussion
with a litigating division is no substitute for this
responsibility.
- Suggested criteria for determining what are major developments
in important
cases are listed below. Please note that this is not an exhaustive
list. Also
observe that developments can include many steps other than the
filing or
settling of a case; even procedural motions can be important enough
to report in
some instances.
- Implications cutting across several federal agencies;
- Large monetary liability at issue;
- State or local government unit as a party;
- Involvement of some aspect of foreign relations;
- High likelihood of coverage in news media, or Congressional
interest; and
- Any serious challenge to Presidential authority or national
security
concerns.
[cited in USAM 3-15.160;
3-1.200;
9-2.136;
9-2.155]
3-18.220
Urgent Reports—Notice of Interviews of Subjects of
Investigations
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It is the policy and practice of the Department of Justice to keep
appropriate officials, including the Assistant Attorney General for the
Criminal Division or, when appropriate the Assistant Attorney General for
the Civil Division, the Associate Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney
General and the Attorney General, advised of sensitive criminal or civil
investigations particularly those in which public figures or entities are
subjects of the investigation. Urgent Reports must be submitted to advise
these Department officials upon the initiation of such sensitive
investigations. To assure timely communication of information developed
during such investigation, the below listed procedures should be
followed:
- This notification procedure shall not interrupt,
alter or delay
the normal conduct and pursuit of any investigation.
- If in the course of any federal investigation, it is
determined that an
interview, grand jury appearance or trial appearance is required of
any member
of Congress, federal judge, high executive branch official or other
nationally
prominent public figure, the responsible prosecuting or
investigating attorney
shall provide advance notice to the appropriate official in the
Department of
Justice before contacting the public figure. Where a Justice
department
litigating division has assumed responsibility for the
investigation, notice
shall be made by a memorandum signed by the reporting attorney. In
cases where
the United States Attorney's office controls the investigation or
where the
United States Attorney's office and a Department of Justice
litigating division
are jointly involved in the investigation, notice shall be made
through an EMAIL
Urgent Report. The Executive Office for United States Attorneys
shall assume
responsibility for further dissemination of the Urgent Report.
Similar notification should be made in advance of any indictment
of such public
figures. These procedures do not satisfy other applicable
consultative and
approval requirements, if any, that may apply.
- The Urgent Report should be submitted to the Department of
Justice as soon
as possible, preferably one week before the anticipated event. In
the case of
an emergency, the information may be communicated orally to the
appropriate
Assistant Attorney General for further dissemination to the
Associate Attorney
General, when necessary, the Deputy Attorney General and the
Attorney General.
Oral notification should be made as much in advance of the event as
possible, and
should be followed immediately by a memorandum signed by the
reporting attorney
where a Justice Department litigating division has assumed
responsibility for a
case or by EMAIL Urgent Report where the United States Attorney's
office is
involved in the case. Emergencies requiring waiver of the advance
notification
requirement should be rare as most investigative steps are planned
well in
advance.
- To preserve investigative integrity and to avert possible
unfair publicity,
Urgent Reports should be brief and avoid unnecessary investigative
detail. All
Urgent Reports will be kept on a limited official use basis.
3-18.230
Urgent Reports on Other Matters
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Information falling within the criteria set forth below should be sent
by EMAIL/FAX (utilizing a secured machine when appropriate), followed by a
written memorandum, for further distribution to the Attorney General, Deputy
Attorney General, Associate Attorney General and the appropriate Assistant
Attorney General. United States Attorneys' offices will communicate
directly to the Executive Office for United States Attorneys. Litigating
division staff attorneys will communicate directly to the appropriate
supervisor at the Department of Justice. Access to Urgent Reports is
strictly controlled and limited to those officials having a need to know.
- Emergencies—e.g., riots, taking of hostages,
hijacking,
kidnapping, prison escapes with attendant violence, serious bodily
injury to or
caused by Department personnel;
- Allegations of improper conduct by the Department or specific
Department
employee, a public official, or a public figure; including
criticism by a member
of Congress, a court, or other senior government officials of the
Department's
handling of a particular matter;
- Serious conflicts with other government agencies or
departments;
- Issues or events that may be of major interest to the press,
Congress or
the President; and
- Other information so important as to warrant the personal
attention of the
Attorney General within 24 hours.
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