Pressure mounts to overhaul FBI

To be fair, it also has a storied history of tracking down mafia bosses, bank robbers, and other tough criminals.

But the 1990s were a tough decade, including such debacles as the destruction of the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas, and the botched prosecution of scientist Wen Ho Lee.

In fact, Ronald Kessler, author of "The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI," says Louis Freeh – the director for much of the 1990s – created "a sense of political correctness and risk-averseness that drove out many of the best managers and discouraged people from telling the truth."

Now there's huge momentum for reform – although some critics doubt the FBI can ever do good counterterrorism work and dangle the prospect of a new domestic intelligence agency.

That prospect raises one of the fundamental issues the FBI has long struggled with – the traditional American wariness of giving domestic law enforcement too much power.

In fact, concern about intruding on cherished liberties is the reason for the traditional wall of separation between the CIA – which has broad intelligence gathering powers – and the FBI, which doesn't. It's also the source of the long-simmering CIA-FBI tensions.

"But now that there's a terrorist threat," Mr. Wittmann says, "people are demanding results."

Indeed, the USA Patriot Act, passed in the wake of Sept. 11, dramatically lowers the wall between the FBI and CIA. It allows information sharing and cooperation on an unprecedented level.

Now the question is whether Mueller can make the needed changes. So far he's gotten generally positive reactions. "He's created a sense of urgency," says Mr. Kessler.

Mueller is creating a Washington-based "super squad" for terrorism probes. He's also bringing in the CIA agents to improve data collection and coordination.

"The director is not turf-guarding," Representative Goss said last week.

One now-apparent rift is between headquarters and the field offices.

Rowley's memo charged that headquarters impeded the pre-9/11 probe of Mr. Moussaoui.

The memo also asserts that top FBI officials – possibly including Mueller – have since tried to obscure any sense that the bureau had advance warnings of the attacks. Headquarters "decided to circle the wagons," she writes, "in an apparent effort to protect the FBI from embarrassment and the relevant FBI officials from scrutiny."

But now the scrutiny is growing. The Senate intelligence committee plans 9/11 hearings starting June 4. And the White House and Congress are still wrangling over whether a blue-ribbon panel will hold more-public hearings on the topic.

On Sunday, Senate majority leader Tom Daschle (D) of South Dakota continued to press for an independent commission to investigate pre-9/11 intelligence failures.

The Bush administration has said it believes the proper channels for investigation are Congress's intelligence committees – which can keep classified information secret.

• Gail Russell Chaddock contributed to this article.

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