There is no FBI file on the views of the Aryan Nations, the neo-Nazi group whose members have said they are "involved in a holy war." Nor are there FBI agents monitoring the dozens of Web sites devoted to white supremacy, even ones spewing hatred for blacks and Jews.

And even as Attorney General Janet Reno deplored the "culture of violence" that gave rise to Buford O. Furrow Jr., who was charged yesterday with hate crimes in Tuesday's shooting spree near Los Angeles, there were no plans to create an FBI system for tracking hate groups.

So, while fears of hate crimes mount and federal officials brace for potentially heightened violence, the notion of monitoring hate groups solely because of their beliefs "doesn't fit into our lexicon here," said FBI spokesman Tron Brekke.