FBI TO SHIFT FOCUS FROM DRUGS TO TERROR

WASHINGTON -- FBI Director Robert Mueller will announce a reorganization of
the FBI today that envisions a major retreat from the agency's past
commitment to fighting drug crime as it focuses on preventing 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 counterterrorism operations, including
improving the agency's ability to analyze intelligence and the creation of
"flying squads" of agents, who would be on call to pursue terrorism
investigations around the world.

Mueller would use the agents freed by the redeployment to supplement new
counterterrorism agents that Congress already has agreed to fund. Some
1,770 field agents would be permanently assigned to counterterrorism duty,
vs. 1,151 before the Sept. 11 attacks.

The reorganization has been in the works for months, but the announcement
comes as the FBI is under 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 enforcement and related activities.

The plan also calls for a more modest reassignment of agents assigned to
violent crime cases and white-collar crimes. The bureau has about 11,500
agents.

As a result, the burden of enforcing the nation's drug laws would fall more
heavily on the Drug Enforcement 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 today's announcement -- did not mention drugs.

The realignment could come at a cost of higher crime rates and, despite the
focus on terrorism, presents some long-term political risks for the Bush
administration, observers say.