The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigates violations of all Federal laws that are not covered in the jurisdiction of other Federal agencies. These investigations may include bank robberies, kidnapping, treason, civil rights violations, extortion, and the assaulting or killing of any Federal Government employee -- even open acts of home-grown terrorism.

Terrorism, both here and abroad, is punishable with life imprisonment, or death. The same is true for the act of treason during time of war. A formal declaration of war has been announced to the free citizens of United States of America by our president. Our enemy is a terrorist force, whose reach and persistence we are still learning. The FBI and CIA are working hand-in-glove at this very moment trying to isolate and trace the anthrax killers, while our military engages a formidable opponent half a world away. At the same time, we have pranksters who think it humorous to send bogus anthrax mail to people, possibly at random. We also have warped opponents to freedom of choice similarly attacking planned planning facilities and abortion clinics. These pranksters and home-grown terrorists are flies in the ointment of serious investigation, but all should be treated as a real threat, and so should be similarly punishable.

“In 1988, the federal death penalty was reinstated by the United States Congress and the President with the enactment of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. In 1994, Congress and the President expanded capital sentencing in the Federal Death Penalty Act. Under these two legislative acts, the federal statutes allow the death penalty for some of the most heinous and violent crimes imaginable. These include the intentional killing; espionage and treason; a kidnapping or conspiracy that results in a murder; killing a law enforcement officer; or committing a major drug-trafficking crime.”
The above quote from the opening paragraph of Attorney General Ashcroft’s Statement Regarding the Execution of Timothy McVeigh.

A crime should be tried in the state in which it occurred, but with so much interstate/international travel today, this is not always the case. Treason is the act/deed of a citizen levying war against his own nation, in this case we’ll say the United States of America, or giving aid and comfort to your home nation’s enemies. Now, by law, treason must be proven by the irrevocable testimony of two or more witnesses to the fact, or through a written/verbal confession by the accused in a legal court of law, which in itself raises the standard of proof well above that of other crimes. Reasonable doubt, therefore, will never be enough. This particular bit is doubtless due the abuse our founding fathers witnessed in various European governments at the time the Bill of Rights was drafted. At the time, a treasonous act might included such things as disagreeing publicly with some government policy, or stating on the street that the local mayor or ruling monarch was an blithering idiot.

These people are interfering with a publicly declared federal investigation. This is a crime that effects us all.

These people are performing terrorist activities. This is a crime that effects us all.

These people are aiding our enemy by interfering with a federal investigation. This is a crime that effects us all.

Dan