STATEMENT OF GLEN E. POMMERENING UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20530 MAY 14 1976 Honorable John 0. Pastore Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Pastore: When the Department of Justice appeared before the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for State, Justice, Commerce, and the Judiciary for hearings on its Fiscal Year 1977 budget request, the Director, United States Marshals Service (USMS) briefly discussed the Service's regionalization plans. Since your Committee also has an interest in this matter, information on the background and present plan for regionalization is herein provided. In May 1974, the USMS became a Bureau of the Department of Justice. As a part of Bureau status, the Department of Justice, in March 1975, recommended that the Service regionalize certain administrative and operational responsibilities to the greatest extent practicable. In September 1975, after several months of planning and coordination, the USMS implemented the first phase of its regionalization program. Essentially, the first phase of regionalization involved a reorganization of USMS Headquarters, the establishment of five (5) geographic regions in the United States which coincide with the existing five regions of the Bureau of Prisons, and the selection of five Regional Directors and five Assistant Regional Directors who would be located in Washington, D.C. during the first phase. During this trial period, the Regional Directors and the Assistant Regional Directors were delegated those authorities by the Director, USMS, which are necessary in the day to day operations of the Judicial Districts within their regions. The various staff divisions within the Headquarters supported the Headquarters as well as the Regional Directors in accomplishing all necessary actions. During this first phase, two additional efforts were undertaken pertaining to the regionalization program. Formal training of Regional Directors and Assistant Regional Directors in areas of operational and administrative responsibilities of the USMS was completed, and an in-depth evaluation was initiated of whether or not regionalization would actually work as a management tool in the Service. The evaluation of this first phase of regionalization was completed in February 1976. The results indicated that regionalization was accomplishing the defined goals of the program and was materially assisting the operational programs, administrative functions, and the management, direction and control of the Service. In March 1976, the Deputy Attorney General approved the evaluation of the first phase and the beginning of the next phase, i.e., the movement of two regions to their respective regional cities. Assuming there is no objection by Congress, Region V of the USMS will move to San Francisco, California in June 1976, with a full administrative and operational staff. The estimate of the initial personnel requirement in Region V is fifteen (15) people. At the same time, Region III will move to Kansas City, Missouri with an operational staff only. The estimate of the initial number of personnel necessary to support the operational function in Region III is six (6) people. This method of regionalizing in the second phase will provide comparison situations for a more closely controlled evaluation of the results of regionalization. Based on the results of the evaluation of the second phase of our regionalization program, the USMS will then begin planning to move the remaining three regions to their respective regional cities (Region I, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Region II, Atlanta, Georgia; Region IV, Dallas, Texas). Depending upon subsequent Department approval, the Service will then begin to appropriately staff each region. It is anticipated that the process of regionalization within the Marshals Service will be completed during the second half of Fiscal Year 1978. Minimal funding in the amount of $296,000 has been requested of the Congress for Fiscal Year 1977 to implement the beginning of the second phase of the regionalization program. No funds or positions were requested in this current fiscal year because the budget planning occurred before the first phase of regionalization began. Detailed recommendations for the complete implementation of this program during Fiscal Year 1978 are being developed now and will be appropriately reflected in the budget request to the Congress for the Service for that period. Initially, the manpower required to operate the regional offices is being obtained from existing resources within the Service. No additional positions were requested of the Congress for this program for Fiscal Years 1976 and 1977. Planning for Fiscal Year 1978 will reflect some additional personnel resources to fully implement the regionalization program, but that request will be limited to the minimum necessary to support this important program. I hope this information is sufficient for the Committee's needs. If you or the staff wishes additional information or explanation, Mr. Wayne B. Colburn, Director, USMS, and I will be happy to provide it. Sincerely, Glen E. Pommerening Assistant Attorney General for Administration Dear John: LETTER FROM THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL April 27, 1976 I noted with interest that the Senate Foreign Relations and the house International Relations Committees recently authorized establishment of a $5 million contingency fund for the Board for International Broadcasting to preclude financial instability to the operations of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty caused by foreign currency fluctuations. As you may be aware, 84 percent of the moneys granted to the two Fadios by the Board for International Broadcasting are converted to foreign currencies of which 73 percent is in German marks. No other operation financed by the U.S. Government converts anywhere near this percentage of its funds to foreign currency. Consequently, the Radios cannot compensate for foreign exchange fluctuations as can U.S. agencies whose operations principally involve U.S. dollars. I understand that your Subcommittee will consider shortly the fiscal year 1977 appropriation request for the Board which includes the grants for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Specific action will be required to provide funds to implement the authorizing legislation. We feel that significant fluctuations in foreign currency rates will continue into the foreseeable future, and there still remains a continuing need for a contingency fund. Implementation of the authorizing legislation would work both ways; i.e., compensate the Radios when dollar valuations are less than the basis upon which budgets had been presented or reduce the funding to the Radios when the strength of the dollar is such that they would otherwise receive a windfall. For example, in fiscal year 1976 the Padios can have a windfall of as much as a million dollars due to a favorable rate of exchange. Under the authorizing legislation the Office of Management and Budget would withhold such windfalls. On the other hand, the budget for fiscal year 1977 was based on a rate of 2.67 German marks to the dollar. The present exchange rate is about 2.53 marks. If that rate were to remain constant during fiscal year 1977, the Radios would have a shortfall of over $1 million. The shortfall would be granted to the Radios from the contingency fund. A copy of the letter we submitted to the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Felations Committee on March 2, 1976, is enclosea for your information. I believe you will find it contains a convincing discussion of the appropriateness of the contingency fund. Sincerelyours, Тешм Comptroller General 70-425 O 76 - 53 LIST OF WITNESSES, COMMUNICATIONS, AND PREPARED STATEMENTS Page Abourezk, Hon. James, U.S. Senator from South Dakota, prepared statement. Albright, Robert T., Controller, Drug Enforcement Administration, Department American Correctional Association, position statement Ariyoshi, George R., Department of Transportation, State of Hawaii, letter from .. Bamberger, E. Clinton, Jr., Executive Vice President, Legal Services Corporation Bayh, Hon. Birch, U.S. Senator from Indiana, letter from 703 320 263 341 752 195 705 707 816 708, 714 814 Beals, Alan, executive vice president, National League of Cities and U.S. Beall, Hon. J. Glenn, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maryland, letter from Bellmon, Hon. Henry, U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, letters from Brooke, Hon. Edward W., U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, letter from. Burdick, Hon. Quentin N., U.S. Senator from North Dakota, letter from Callahan, Nicholas P., Associate Director, Federal Bureau of Investiga- Campbell, Thomas P., Acting Chief, Financial Management Division, Federal 769 696 718 263, 525 673 Cannon, Hon. Howard W., U.S. Senator from Nevada, letter from Case, Hon. Clifford P., U.S. Senator from New Jersey, letter from 720 759 Chapman, Leonard F., Jr., Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization 263 Clark, Hon. Dick, U.S. Senator from Iowa, letters from 721 Collier, Calvin J., Chairman, Federal Trade Commission Corbett, Alfred, Director of Program Planning, Legal Services Corporation 195 195 Cranston, Hon. Alan, U.S. Senator from California, letter from 807 Downey, Arthur T., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Bureau of East-West 535 Durkin, Hon. John A., U.S. Senator from New Hampshire, letters from 722, 723, 807 Eagleburger, Lawrence S., Deputy Under Secretary of State for Management, letter from Eagleton, Hon. Thomas F., U.S. Senator from Missouri, letters from 226 724, 807 |