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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2002)
FBI to unveil reorganization, sharper focus on terrorism By Mike uorning Chicago Tribune WASHINGTON — FBI Director Robert Mueller will announce a re organization of the FBI today that envisions a major retreat from the agency’s past commitment to fight ing drug crime as it focuses on pre venting future terrorist attacks, sources in the Justice Department and Congress said. The shift, which includes moving 400 agents out of anti-drug work, is aimed at bolstering the bureau’s counter-terrorism operations, in cluding improving the agency’s ability to analyze intelligence and the creation of “flying squads” of agents, who would be on call to pur sue terrorism investigations around the world. Mueller would use the agents freed by the redeployment to sup plement new counterterrorism agents that Congress already has agreed to fund. Some 1,770 field agents would be permanently as signed to counter-terrorism duty, ver sus 1,151 before the Sept. 11 attacks. The reorganization has been in the works for months, but the an nouncement comes as the FBI is un der criticism that it should have paid more attention to clues that hinted at the Sept. 11 attacks. Those attacks occurred a week after Mueller took over as director. According to officials in Congress and the Justice Department who have been briefed on the plan, the reorganization includes reassigning one of every five FBI agents from drug entorcement and related activ ities. The plan also calls for a more modest reassignment of agents as signed to violent crime cases and white-collar crimes. The bureau has about 11,500 agents. As a result, the burden of enforc ing the nation’s drug laws would fall more heavily on the Drug Enforce ment Administration as well as state and local police agencies. Since President Ronald Reagan recruited the FBI into the war on drugs 20 years ago, the number of agents devoted to the cause has swelled, standing at about one-fifth of the bureau's agents on the eve of Sept. 11. But in a reflection of how much the bureau’s mission has changed, a list of 10 priorities for the reorganized FBI—presented to key members of Congress in advance of Wednesday’s announcement — did not mention drugs. The realignment could come at a cost of higher crime rates and, de spite the focus on terrorism, pres ents some long-term political risks for the Bush administration, ob servers say. Local police chiefs already com plain that they are overwhelmed, and a drop in tax revenues from the economic slowdown has added to budget pressures on state and mu nicipal governments. The DEA may need a large funding increase to take up the slack from the FBI’s reduc tion in anti-drug work. Drug-related crime has been a po litically sensitive issue for some time, with candidates in the past few decades frequently using pub lic perceptions of out-of-control narcotics traffic to rally voters. In addition, the Clinton administra tion’s highly visible focus on street crime helped nurture links in pub lic opinion between the White House and the falling crime rates of the 1990s. Still, Mueller’s plan won initial praise from Senate Judiciary Com mittee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., whose committee oversees the FBI. “The FBI cannot be all things to all people, and that means making some hard choices, and these should not and will not be the last of them,” Leahy said. “The FBI needs to be come agile enough to respond to the changing needs of the country. ” The reorganized counterterrorism division would have closer links to the CIA and a new Office of Intelli gence to improve the agency’s ability to spot patterns of suspected terror ist activity from diffuse field reports. In a separate development, The Washington Post said that Attorney General John Ashcroft is revising Justice Department guidelines to give FBI officials in the field author ity to open terrorism investigations and undercover probes without clearance from headquarters. The changes, also scheduled to be an nounced Wednesday, are intended to place more decision-making power in the field. ©2002, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. r wm a mp ms wabi 7 DAY HAWAIIAN HOLIDAY FOR TWO Complete with airfare and hotel Registerllii$wakMinyRainto*Optie$ for a dunce to win a drum vacation to Maui, Hami. CAMPUS 766 E. 13th Eugene 343-3333 WESTSIDE 1744 W. 18th Frte T-Shirt wfamnf Maui Jim SUN A SPORT 741E. 13th 343-6318 SHELDON 2540 Willakenzle Eugene 343-5555 Eugene 464-9939 * TO ENTER YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 18YEARS OF AGE. FINALISTS MUST BE PRESENT AT KEY DRAWING 11:15 AM 8-22-02 ATROCITIES UNCOVERED: ISRAEL AND PALESTINE Discussion of human rights violations, Israeli and Palestinian perspectives, and possible paths towards achieving peace Guest Speakers: Karen Kennedy AMNESTY International Thomas Nelson International Solidarity Movement Dr. Diane Baxter U of O Anthropology Department Dr. Shaul Cohen U of O Geography Department Date Time: Place: May 30,2002 6:00PM Reception (Middle Eastern refreshments served) 6:30PM Slide Show 6:45PM Speakers 177 Lawrence § Sponsored by: Muslim Student Association Co-sponsored by: ASUO Women’s Center, Eugene Middle East Peace Group -■ .it'
