By ,
Published December 20, 2015
GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, discussing the challenge of tracking terror threats, complained Tuesday that part of the problem is the FBI and CIA have fewer agents than the IRS.
"Here’s a startling fact ... we have more IRS agents than FBI and CIA," Fiorina said in an interview with Fox News' "The Kelly File." "Does that strike you as a mis-allocation of resources? Of course it is. We need to take this terror threat seriously."
The CIA has a classified budget and the total size of its agent force is unclear, but the IRS clearly has a larger staff than the FBI. According to the IRS, the agency's budget authorizes 82,203 total employees; according to the FBI, the bureau has 35,000 employees.
Fiorina made the point while answering a question on what she thinks of Donald Trump's comments that certain mosques that pose a threat should be closed, on the heels of the Paris terror attacks. Fiorina said she would not close mosques but rather "increase the amount of agents we have on the ground."
"Let’s get real here and talk about who’s the enemy and do what is necessary to protect our nation, because the first and most important responsibility of the federal government is to protect the nation," she said.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fiorina-irs-has-more-agents-than-cia-fbi