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FBI Director Tells Congress Anti-terrorism Plans

Aired June 21, 2002 - 12:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now, during Kelli's report, we briefly heard from FBI director Robert Mueller. He was called to Capitol Hill to report on some of his plans to reinvigorate the bureau to better fight in the war on terrorism.

And following that part of the story is CNN congressional correspondent Kate Snow.

Hi there -- Kate.

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

Mr. Mueller up here testifying about this reorganization that he plans for the FBI that he's already proposed, shifting agents for the most part over to do more counterterrorism work. For the most part, congressmen on the panel have been very complimentary of the director, saying they agree with most of his efforts.

A couple of complaints, though, if you will, one congressman saying, how do you ensure that as you go after the bad guys, you don't also hurt the good guys, in terms of people's civil liberties being squashed. And Mr. Mueller responded to that by saying, look, we are in a time right now where we're being very aggressive about trying to stop terrorism before it happens, but we are certainly not going to be irresponsible. We have to be careful, he said, about not trampling on rights.

Mueller also explained in general why he thinks the FBI needs these changes he's proposing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: What we need to do in Washington is ensure that what is happening in Portland, Oregon, where it may relate to what is happening in Seattle or Albuquerque, is put together and that the investigative steps are taken to assure that we push it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Here is what he is proposing: 518 agents that are currently doing other things -- for example, drug enforcement work -- would shift over to become counterterrorism agents. That means 30 percent of the people now doing work on drugs are moved over, but it is only 5 percent of the total FBI work force. A hundred and fifty counterterrorism agents that are in the field now will go to Washington, D.C., headquarters. He would create flying squads to respond immediately, to be able to go out to the field if there is some kind of urgent emergency, terrorism-wise. A national joint terrorism task force to coordinate here in Washington between various agencies, not just the FBI, but working with the CIA, the INS, and others. And finally, recruit more agents, more analysts: He says that's very important, the analytical capability, and translators to be able to translate documents.

Some on the panel have suggested that perhaps they need to move even more agents into counterterrorism, and perhaps they need more money to do this, and make these changes. Mr. Mueller has said, well, let's hang on a second; we don't want to do too much too fast. He says, I don't want to end up spinning the pendulum so far the other way, Fredricka, that you end up with agents sitting around essentially doing nothing, not having enough work to do.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: Well, Kate, Director Mueller discussed that point that you were talking about: hiring more people, recruiting more. So did he go into details about how they would go about finding some of the best candidates?

SNOW: Hasn't been asked that specifically yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if that comes up this afternoon. It's certainly a key part of his plan -- is also recruiting and training, you know, saying that some of these folks who are moving and shifting over are going to have to be completely retained so that their focus is on counterterrorism.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, Kate Snow, live from Capitol Hill. I appreciate it.

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