More FBI agents for Washington

Additional FBI resources are needed in Washington. Anti-terrorism efforts have reduced the bureau's traditional law-enforcement contingent to an uncomfortably low level.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray has asked for a roster of where FBI agents are assigned and other information to make the case for hiring additional agents. Murray inserted language into an appropriations bill that instructs the agency to report back within 60 days on work-force allocation and appropriate steps to right-size the force.

Additional funds would not come until 2009, but the senator is purposefully assembling evidence in support of an increase.

We should not be dedicating so many resources to terrorism that bread-and-butter issues — white-collar crime, cybercrime, bank fraud, mail fraud and bank robbery — are left understaffed and underprosecuted.

The senator says Washington is 53 agents short of the number required to match the national average of agents per 100,000 residents.

Local law-enforcement officers across the state complain that already stretched local departments have to fill in on work the FBI used to do.

Murray's call for greater attention to Washington has the sound of a squeaky wheel. Her decision to emphasize staffing should bring several more agents our way.