When President Bush announced on March 21, 2001 that he intended to nominate Deborah J. Daniels to be assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Daniels had a fairly good idea of what she would be doing in that job. After all, she was no stranger to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). She had been a U.S. attorney and was the first director of DOJ’s Executive Office of Weed and Seed.
But between the day of President Bush’s announcement and the day of Daniels’s confirmation—October 1, 2001—the world had changed, and so had her job. Twenty-four days before she took office, terrorists struck the United States. She would have to re-arrange priorities and strike a balance between responding to terrorism and presiding over a wide range of programs involving state and local criminal and juvenile justice initiatives.
Exactly one month after taking over direction of OJP, Daniels addressed the NDAA Board of Directors, declaring that although DOJ was refocusing its resources “to the extent possible” on counter-terrorism, “we are mindful of the work that you (local prosecutors) do every day.” She promised, “We will continue to support the fight against street crime and other issues that local prosecutors must deal with,” adding, “It’s important to OJP that we ensure that local prosecutors have the tools they need to confront crime in their communities.”
She reiterates that pledge today, declaring: “While counter-terrorism continues to be a top priority for the Department of Justice, OJP remains committed to helping local prosecutors and other criminal justice practitioners combat crime, improve criminal justice operations, and protect the residents of their communities. The president’s budget request for FY2003 reflects this commitment.”
She pointed out that direct overall DOJ support for state and local law enforcement actually will increase next year and provide greater flexibility in the use of funding locally than has been the case under the current block grant system. And she cites continued and in some cases increased funding for such programs as Gun Violence Assistance ($50 million), gun prosecution prosecutors ($75 million), community prosecution ($25 million) and an additional $6 million requested for Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces.
“Because of this administration’s dedication to the needs of local prosecutors to fight additional crime,” Daniels notes, “the $70 million per year in Project Safe Neighborhood funds for 2002 and 2003 is being made available to prosecutors even in the wake of the September 11, 2002 terrorist attacks and the call for a shift in focus to counter-terrorism. And we’ll continue to support NDAA and APRI initiatives such as child abuse investigation and prosecution.”
Although its staff of approximately 800 is relatively small as a federal agency and even within the Justice Department’s vast bureaucracy of some 115,000 employees, OJP is one of DOJ’s most important offices and has one of the department’s larger budgets. This is because its mission is funding criminal justice programs throughout the United States.
OJP’s budget of more than $4.6 billion includes all formula and discretionary grants and $1.1 billion in congressional “earmarks.” The grants are disbursed through five bureaus: the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ); and six program offices: Violence Against Women Office, Executive Office for Weed and Seed, Office for Domestic Preparedness, Drug Courts Program Office, Police Corps and the Corrections Program Office. OJP also provides funding for NDAA’s training at the National Advocacy Center.
Prior to rejoining DOJ, Daniels was a partner in an Indianapolis law firm, where she specialized in legislative and regulatory work. Previously she was executive director of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, a not-for-profit organization that pioneered public-private partnerships that have contributed to Indianapolis’s economic revival.
From 1998-1993 she was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. She was instrumental in establishing the Weed and Seed program in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis program continues to be a national model in achieving Weed and Seed’s goals of integrating law enforcement, community policing, violence prevention and neighborhood restoration efforts. She served in DOJ as the first director of the Executive Office of Weed and Seed from 1992-1993. During her tenure as U.S. attorney, she received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement Coordination and served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys.
Prior to becoming U.S. attorney, she served as chief counsel to the prosecuting attorney in Marion County (Indianapolis), Indiana, supervising the areas of child abuse, sexual abuse and domestic violence prosecutions, adult protective services and victims’ assistance.
Deborah Daniels’s brother, Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr., is President Bush’s budget director. The president’s nickname for him is “The Blade”—a reference to Daniels’s ability to slice budget requests, with his sister enjoying no immunity.
“During the annual back-and-forth between OMB and the federal agencies, which routinely occurs around Thanksgiving,” says Deborah Daniels,” some wondered if there would be some spirited discussion around the (Daniels) family table on what was about to be carved up. The truth is, Mitch is carrying out the job the president wants him to do, and my mission also is to carry out the president’s agenda. So while we do joke about it, we fully understand that we’re on the same team, with the same mission.”
In an interview on MSNBC, Mitch Daniels said,” Here (in Washington) occasionally I win a disagreement (with my sister).”
Deborah Daniels countered: “But it never happens at home.”
