The Department of Justice was established by act of June 22, 1870, as amended (28 U.S.C. 501, 503, 509 note), with the Attorney General as its head. Prior to 1870 the Attorney General was a member of the President's Cabinet, but not the head of a department, the office having been

Offices

Attorney General The Attorney General, as head of the Department of Justice and chief law enforcement officer of the Federal Government, represents the United States in legal matters generally and gives advice and opinions to the President and to the heads of the executive departments of the Government when so requested. The Attorney General appears in person to represent the Government before the U.S. Supreme Court in cases of exceptional gravity or importance. The Office of the Attorney General oversees the Offices of Deputy Attorney General, Associate Attorneys General, Legal Counsel, and Inspector General, as well as the following offices whose public purposes are widely applied. Solicitor General The Solicitor General represents the U.S. Government in cases before the Supreme Court. He decides what cases the Government should ask the Supreme Court to review and what position the Government should take in cases before the Court. Also, he supervises the preparation of the Government's Supreme Court briefs and other legal documents and the conduct of the oral arguments in the Court. He or his staff argue most of the Government's cases in the Supreme Court. The Solicitor General's duties also include deciding whether the United States should appeal in all cases it loses before the lower courts.

Legal Counsel The Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel assists the Attorney General in fulfilling the Attorney General's function as legal adviser to the President and all the executive branch agencies. The

created under authority of act of September 24, 1789, as amended (28 U.S.C. 503).

The affairs and activities of the Department of Justice are generally directed by the Attorney General. The offices, divisions, bureaus, and boards of the Department follow.

Office drafts legal opinions of the Attorney General rendered in response to requests from the President and heads of the executive departments. It also provides its own written opinions and informal advice in response to requests from the various agencies of the Government, as well as offices within the Department and from Presidential staff and advisers, typically dealing with legal issues involving agency disagreements or with pending legislation. The Office also is responsible for providing legal advice to the executive branch on all constitutional questions.

All Executive orders and

proclamations proposed to be issued by the President are reviewed by the Office of Legal Counsel for form and legality, as are various other matters that require the President's formal approval. In addition, the Office of Legal Counsel functions as general counsel for the Department. It reviews all proposed orders of the Attorney General and all regulations requiring the Attorney General's approval.

The Office coordinates the work of the Department with respect to treaties, executive agreements, and international organizations. It performs a variety of special assignments referred by the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General. However, it is not authorized to give legal advice to private persons. Information and Privacy The Office of Information and Privacy (OIP) operates under the supervision of a Director, who manages the Department's

responsibilities related to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy

Act. These responsibilities include coordinating policy development and compliance Governmentwide for FOIA, and by the Department for the Privacy Act; and adjudicating all appeals from denials by any Department component of access to information under those acts. OIP also processes all initial requests under those acts for access to the records of the Offices of the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, Associate Attorney General, and other senior management offices of the Department.

Pardon Attorney The Office of the Pardon Attorney, in consultation with the Attorney General or his designee, assists the President in the exercise of executive clemency as authorized under Article II, section 2, of the Constitution. Generally, all requests for executive clemency are directed to the Pardon Attorney for investigation and review. Executive clemency may take several forms, including pardon, commutation, remission of fine, and reprieve. Community Relations Service The Service was created by title X of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000g et seq.). Pursuant to Executive Order No. 12341 of January 21, 1982, the Attorney General expanded the Service's mandate to include responsibility for the Cuban/Haitian Entrant Program (CHEP), as authorized by subsection 501(c)(1)(A) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 (8 U.S.C. 1522). The Community Relations Service is under the general authority of the Attorney General and is headed by a Director, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

The mission of the Service is to prevent and resolve community conflicts and reduce community tensions arising from actions, policies, and practices perceived to be discriminatory on the basis of race, color, or national origin. The Service offers assistance to communities in resolving disputes relating to race, color, or national origin and facilitates the development of viable agreements as alternatives to coercion, violence, or litigation. It also assists and

supports communities in developing local mechanisms as proactive measures to prevent or reduce racial/ethnic tensions.

The services provided include conciliation, mediation, technical assistance, and training, and involve specialized procedures for preventing and resolving racial and ethnic conflicts. The Service provides assistance directly to people and their communities. It shows no partiality among disputing parties and, in promoting the principles and ideals of nondiscrimination, applies skills that allow parties to mediate their own disputes. The Service's conciliators, who are located in 10 regional offices and 4 field offices around the country, assist people of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds.

The Service offers its assistance either on its own motion, when in its judgment peaceful relations among the citizens of a community are threatened, or upon request of State or local officials or other interested persons. The Service seeks the cooperation of appropriate State and local, and public and private agencies in carrying out the agency's mission.

Under the Refugee Education and Assistance Act, the Community Relations Service provides assistance for the processing, care, and placement within the United States of Cuban and Haitian entrants. Working with voluntary and governmental agencies, the Service's headquarters and Miami field offices provide humanitarian relief for the successful resettlement of Cuban and Haitian entrants. These services include shelter care, child welfare, and family reunification for these individuals following their release from Immigration and Naturalization Service custody.

The Community Relations Service's Primary Resettlement Program provides transitional community-based refugee resettlement services to recently apprehended Haitian nationals paroled from detention at Immigration and Naturalization Service Processing Centers primarily the Krome Service Processing Center in South Florida and the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo, Cuba-and to recently encountered and paroled Cuban nationals from ports

throughout Florida, mostly the Key West coast guard station.

The Secondary Resettlement Program provides resettlement services, emphasizing employment placement and retention at specialized sites outside of Florida, to Cubans and Haitians whose initial resettlement in South Florida did not lead to self-sufficiency.

Under the Unaccompanied Minors Program, the Service has extensive experience in providing services to Cuban and Haitian minors apprehended by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Since 1986, under a memorandum of agreement with INS, the Community Relations Service has

Regional Offices

Address (Areas Served)

Boston, MA (99 Summer St., 02110)

New York, NY (26 Federal Plz., 10278)

Philadelphia, PA (2d and Chestnut Sts., 19106)

Atlanta, GA (75 Piedmont Ave. NE., 30303)

Chicago, IL (55 W. Monroe St., 60603)

Dallas, TX (1420 W. Mockingbird Ln., 75247)

Kansas City, MO (323 W. 8th St., 64105)

Denver, CO (1244 Speer Blvd., 80204-3584)

San Francisco, CA (33 New Montgomery St., 94105-4511)

Seattle, WA (915 2d Ave., 98101)

Justice Management Division Under the direction of the Assistant Attorney General for Administration, the Division provides assistance to senior management officials relating to basic Department policy for evaluation, budget and financial management, personnel management and training, equal opportunity programs, automatic data processing and telecommunications, security, records management, procurement, real property and materiel management, and for all other matters pertaining to organization, management, and administration.

The Division provides direct administrative support services, such as personnel, accounting, payroll, procurement, budget, and facilities and property management to the offices, boards, and divisions of the Department; and operates several central services, such as automated data processing.

The Division develops and promulgates Departmentwide policies, standards, and procedures for the management of automated information processing resources and for the directive system and reviews their implementation. The Division collects, organizes, and disseminates recorded information that is necessary for the Department to carry out its statutory mandate and provides general research and reference assistance regarding information to Department staff, other Government attorneys, and members of the public.

Asset Forfeiture Management Staff (AFMS) The Staff has responsibility for the administrative management functions of the asset forfeiture program in the Department of Justice. These functions include management of the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Fund (AFF) including interpretation of the AFF

statute; implementation and operation of the Consolidated Asset Tracking System (CATS); management of both internal and external budget processes regarding AFF monies; managing investment of AFF and Seized Asset Deposit Fund (SADF) surplus balances; development, administration, and oversight of asset forfeiture program-wide contracts; review, audit, and evaluation of asset forfeiture program activities; identification of program weaknesses and development, monitoring, and review of appropriate internal controls; analysis of legislative, policy, and regulatory proposals that may affect execution of the asset forfeiture program. Professional Responsibility The Office of Professional Responsibility, which reports directly to the Attorney General, is responsible for investigating allegations of criminal or ethical misconduct by employees of the Justice Department. The Counsel on Professional Responsibility heads the Office, the role of which is to ensure that departmental employees continue to perform their duties in accordance with the high professional standards expected of the Nation's principal law enforcement agency.

All allegations against Department employees in attorney, criminal investigative, or law enforcement positions involving violations of law, departmental regulations, or departmental applicable standards of conduct, are reported to the Office of Professional Responsibility. At the Counsel's discretion, the Office frequently conducts its own investigations into those allegations. The Office may also participate in or direct an investigation conducted by another component of the Department, or may simply monitor an investigation conducted by an appropriate agency having jurisdiction over the matter. In addition, the Office oversees the internal inspection operations of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Counsel submits an annual report to the Attorney General that reviews and evaluates the Department's internal inspection units. The Counsel makes

recommendations to the Attorney General on the need for changes in policies or procedures that become evident during the course of internal inquiries reviewed or initiated by the Office.

Intelligence Policy and Review The Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, under the direction of the Counsel to the Attorney General for Intelligence Policy, is responsible for advising the Attorney General on all matters relating to the national security activities of the United States. The Office also serves as adviser to the Attorney General and various client agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, and the Defense and State Departments, concerning questions of law, regulation, and guidelines as well as the legality of domestic and overseas intelligence operations.

The Office prepares and files all applications for surveillances and searches under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, assists Government agencies by providing legal advice on matters of national security law and policy and represents the Department of Justice on a variety of interagency committees. The Office also comments on and coordinates other agencies' views regarding proposed legislation affecting national security and intelligence matters.

The Office maintains an Intelligence Analytic Unit (IAU) to keep the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, and other senior Department officials currently informed on matters pertaining to their responsibilities.

Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) The Office was created on April 6, 1953, by Attorney General Order No. 8–53, to meet a need for a closer liaison between the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, and the U.S. attorneys. The Office is under the supervision of the Deputy Attorney General.

The mission of EOUSA is to provide general executive assistance to the 94 Offices of the U.S. attorneys and to coordinate the relationship between the U.S. attorneys and the organization