When investigating a criminal violation of FECA, care must be taken not to compromise the FEC’s civil and administrative jurisdiction under 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a). All plea agreements involving activities that concern FECA violations should therefore contain an express disclaimer regarding the FEC’s civil enforcement authority. Finally, the public disclosure features of FECA provide investigators a source of information concerning suspicious contributions. The FEC maintains public data in a manner that permits it to be sorted by contributor, date of contribution, amount of contribution, occupation and employer of contributor, and identity of donee. Data is also similarly maintained with respect to expenditures. Therefore, the FEC’s public database of financial transactions can be particularly useful in the preliminary stage of campaign financing investigations to evaluate or confirm the likelihood of a FECA violation. This data can be accessed and sorted at www.fec.gov. CONSULTATION REQUIREMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Justice Department supervision over the enforcement of all criminal statutes and prosecutive theories involving corruption of the election process, criminal patronage violations, and campaign financing crimes is delegated to the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. This Headquarters’ consultation policy is set forth in the U.S. DEP’T OF J USTICE , U.S. ATTORNEYS ’ M ANUAL (USAM), Section 9-85.210. In 1980, the Election Crimes Branch was created within the Public Integrity Section to manage this supervisory responsibility. The Branch is headed by a Director and staffed on a case-by-case basis with Section prosecutors experienced in handling the investigation and prosecution of election crimes. 15