Justice: FBI unpreparedness claim 'highly misleading'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department on Saturday called "highly misleading" a report that the FBI lacked the resources to deal with major terror threats before September 11.

A secret report to the director of the FBI warned that the bureau faced major terror threats from Middle Eastern groups but didn't have the resources to meet them, The New York Times reported Saturday. The report said most of the FBI's major field offices were unprepared to counter the terrorist threat in their areas.

Citing officials who have seen the Director's Report on Terrorism, the newspaper reported that the document offered specific recommendations and proposed budgetary increases to solve the problem.

But Barbara Comstock, the Justice Department's director of public affairs, said the Times account "is highly misleading and takes budget numbers entirely out of context."

"The classified internal FBI report referenced that allegedly addressed counter-terrorism preparedness in field offices was never conveyed to senior Justice Department officials or their budget staff prior to September 11," Comstock said in a statement issued Saturday.

She added that the FBI's budget rose 32 percent from 2001 to 2003. And the Justice Department's counterterrorism budget has been boosted by $2 billion since September 11, she said.