From the JURIST:
[JURIST] A Washington Post examination of US Department of Justice terror prosecutions to appear in the paper's Sunday edition shows very little progress in identifying and convicting terrorists since September 11, 2001. In contrast to President Bush's recent claims that federal terror investigations under the Patriot Act have resulted in charges against some 400 people and more than 200 convictions [JURIST report], the newspaper says that DOJ records show that only 39 of over 330 terrorism investigations [list] led to a conviction of a crime related to terrorism or national security, and that only 14 of the 39 people convicted had links to al-Qaeda. Approximately 180 suspects had no demonstrated connection to any terrorist group. Most convictions were for making false statements and violating immigration law, and average sentencing has been far from harsh, with an median term of imprisonment of 11 months. The Washington Post has more. NYU's Center for Law and Security has additional statistical analysis [PDF], as well as commentary [PDF].
In addition, the Des Moines Register reported on May 16, 2005 that the Justice Department broadened the definition of terrorism.
Newly released documents show that the U.S. Justice Department has greatly broadened how it defines and counts terrorism-related cases, a move that helped justify the department's call for more funding and greater powers. However, the scant information provided about those cases has watchdog groups and members of Congress crying foul.
The criticism comes in the wake of independent reports suggesting that federal prosecutors have overstated their success in preventing further terrorist activity and attacks. Among the terrorism cases that have been identified in Iowa: the arrests of three contractors, all American, who failed to report drug convictions prior to starting work at airport runway jobs.
