FBI DOWNGRADING ITS FOCUS ON NARCOTICS

WASHINGTON - FBI Director Robert Mueller said Tuesday the war on
terrorism demands the bureau pull agents away from narcotics task
forces and no longer make drug enforcement a top priority.

The comments, which came at the 20th anniversary celebration for the
Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force, followed statements
by Attorney General John Ashcroft reaffirming the drug war will be
reorganized but not abandoned.

Ashcroft said law enforcement agencies have created a "most wanted
list" of 54 drug organizations that must be toppled here and abroad.
The list will allow crime fighters to focus their resources, Ashcroft
said.

But the FBI will be less involved in the effort because of the shift
toward preventing terror attacks and gathering information on terror
groups in the United States, Mueller said Tuesday.

"We ought to defer to the Drug Enforcement Agency on cartel cases,"
Mueller said. "We will still participate, but with fewer resources.
Where there were 10 (FBI agents) on a drug task force in the past, now
there will be five."

Mueller listed stopping terror attacks, counterintelligence and
undermining strikes at the nation's computer networks as the FBI's new
top three priorities. He listed corporate crime investigations as
another major draw on the FBI's resources.

Mueller has spoken before about the need to reallocate resources away
from narcotics enforcement, but Tuesday's comments were the strongest
yet.

Sept. 11 "has required us to look at our resources and make hard
choices," Mueller said. "That is the bottom line for us -
participate (in drug enforcement). but not in the ways we have in the
past."

About 400 agents will be taken from narcotics efforts and placed on
counterterror task forces, Mueller said. There are 11,324 agents in
the FBI.

The agency will focus on assisting narcotics enforcement when it
intersects with terrorism and in attempts to financially disrupt drug
cartels.

Reaction to the message was mixed. John Fernandes, an assistant
director of the DEA in Los Angeles, said that the shift won't lead to
more drugs on the streets.

"We are broadening the war on drugs and looking for ways to fight
smarter, instead of harder," Fernandes said. "We are getting better at
sharing intelligence and resources to compensate."

Seattle police officer Mike Helton said the FBI's diminished presence
will hurt efforts.

"Fighting the drug war will be harder without the extra manpower of
the FBI, there is no way around it," Helton said. "This is a signal
that drugs aren't the most important thing anymore, and that will be
reflected out across America."

Ashcroft said the Bush administration is committed to the drug
war.

"I reject the notion that a nation founded on the ideals of freedom
can willfully abandon the goal of defeating drugs," Ashcroft said. "We
will defeat drugs."