For a Different Game, Make Different Rules

Monday, Oct. 29, 2001 By RICHARD LACAYO
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Robert S. Mueller III, the new FBI director, always knew the bureau had problems he needed to get at quickly. If the place has had its share of triumphs in recent years, especially the quick capture of Timothy McVeigh, it has also had to explain the bungled investigation of Wen Ho Lee and the embarrassment of Robert Hanssen, the agent who sold secrets to Moscow for 21 years. In May, McVeigh's execution was delayed when it emerged that case documents had not been handed over to his attorneys during trial. On the day of his swearing in, Mueller must have hoped for a few months to get up to speed and start making changes. Too bad he was sworn in on Sept. 4.

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One week later the luxury of time disappeared in the flames over New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania. The FBI was called upon to simultaneously investigate the four hijackings and track down leads that could fend off any future attack. That was enough to stretch the bureau to its limits. But then came anthrax and the new responsibility of finding out who sent the contaminated letters and where they got the bacteria. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was furious at the FBI field office last week because it did not inform him for nearly a week after it learned about a suspicious letter received by NBC News. And agents who arrested two men, Ayub Ali Khan and Mohamed Azmath, in connection with the investigation may have overlooked intriguing evidence. The Wall Street Journal reported finding a 1995 issue of TIME in the men's Jersey City, N.J., apartment last week. The TIME cover story was about the Sarin gas attack on a Tokyo subway. Also found was a copy of U.S. News & World Report with a cover on killer microbes.

Is the FBI overwhelmed? To date, on all the investigations, there have been more than 400,000 leads and tips. There are 11,143 FBI agents. You do the math. If it were just a question of workload, the solution would be simple: a massive hiring binge. But the bureau's critics say the problems go to the very question of just how the agency should go about beefing up its counterterrorism capabilities. In June 2000, the National Commission on Terrorism established by Congress called on the FBI to develop clearer guidance for agents on when to open terrorism investigations. The commission wanted the bureau to encourage agents to pursue those investigations more vigorously. To analyze the torrent of data the FBI receives, the report also recommended more linguists and intelligence analysts. There are almost 300 FBI agents in the New England area, for instance, but before the attacks there were none fluent in Arabic.

Mueller has already sought more money for analysts and translators. As for technology, he intends to acquire software that will enable FBI analysts to work rapidly with counterparts at the CIA and the National Security Agency. The new director has won quick praise for being approachable and open to change. As a career prosecutor, Mueller gained some experience in terrorism investigations--he supervised the Pan Am 103 bombing indictments. But he has not said what he will do to improve the FBI's human-intelligence gathering to target Islamic radicalism; the bureau desperately needs informants who can blend into, say, Muslim communities in the U.S.