At least in theory, the United States Attorney in each of the federal judicial districts is the top dog when it comes to federal enforcement efforts by the government's numerous investigative agencies. The position is a political one, with new U.S. Attorneys usually being appointed by the president each time the White House changes hands. In the Los Angeles area in the summer of 2001, Henry Weinstein, Legal Affairs Writer for the Los Angeles Times, discovered that at least nine lawyers were vying to become the district's next U.S. Attorney. In describing the power of the office in California's Central District, Weinstein cited TRAC data describing which areas of enforcement had been emphasized in the 1992 to 1998 period and which had not. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles, for example, had brought relatively few narcotics, organized crime and weapons cases compared to the national average for other offices. Weinstein also cited TRAC staffing data showing that the office had far fewer assistant U.S. Attorneys per capita than such areas as Philadelphia, New Orleans and Miami.
