◆ SpookStack

ATLANTA YOUTH MURDER QUESTIONS 1. I believe you told the Congress that the Bureau had a "tenuous" jurisdiction under the federal kidnapping statutes and the Justice Department concluded there was "no basis for a civil rights investigation." On what basis did the Federal Government have the authority to investigate the Atlanta slayings? 2. Why was the FBI unable to enter the investigation intitially due to lack of jurisdiction, but able to enter later with no apparent change in the facts regarding jurisdiction? 3. Did the FBI enter the case, as some have suggested, simply because the Atlanta slaying had become an issue “national” in scope and effect -- a "national crime disaster area" -~ irrespec- tive of a sound jurisdictional basis? 4. When U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti “ordered" the FBI, as well as the Justice Department, to offer their full coopera- t2 + + = y . “WW in} tion to the Atlanta police, did he in effect "order" the FBI to exceed its traditional jurisdiction? 5. Why was the federal response in Atlanta, particularly that of the FBI, so slow in coming? 6. The technical assistance of two investigators (specifically the services of a special agent who is an expert in the development of behavioral profiles and an FBI agent who is a specialist in the deve lopment of visual investigation aid systems) was offered to the city on November 6, 1980. At some point in very late 1980 or early 1981, a decision was made to send in more assistance. (By February 11, 1981, "some 26 FBI agents" had been assigned to “work with" Atlanta' s 35-member special task force.) Who made that decision, at what time, and when did additional help actually arrive in Atlanta? 7. At some point, the FBI “assistance” in Atlanta’ developed into an independent investigation running OT parallel, and sometimes counter, tracks to the local efforts. At what point did the “assistance” burgeon into a full investigation? Can you provide some idea -- the number of agents and the dates on which they became active in the investigation -- of how the investigation force grew? ' 8. Once the FBI became committed to the situation in Atlanta, their investigation proceeded on a separate track from that of the Special Task Force which was made up of local law enforcement officials. Who made the initial decision that the FBI not be a part of the Special Task Force?