F.B.I. DIRECTOR, FACING CRITICISM, PLANS NEW FOCUS ON TERROR FIGHT

WASHINGTON, May 28 - The Federal Bureau of Investigation, facing intense
criticism over its performance before Sept. 11, is planning a series of
changes intended to alter its mission fundamentally, from solving crimes
like bank robbery to countering terrorism, government officials said today.

Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, is planning to outline the
changes on Wednesday. They include the transfer of more than 600 agents
assigned to investigating narcotics, bank robberies, kidnappings and other
traditional crimes to investigating and analyzing the terrorist threat to
the United States, the officials said. In addition, officers of the Central
Intelligence Agency will be spread throughout the bureau's field offices to
help with analysis of intelligence about terrorist threats.

Throughout its history, the F.B.I. has redefined itself to reflect the
crime-fighting issues of the day. But the changes being proposed by Mr.
Mueller are intended to go deeper. Mr. Mueller has begun the transformation
of a law enforcement agency into what will be at its core a domestic
intelligence agency, bureau officials suggested. He is asking for a budget
increase to hire 800 employees, of whom 500 would be analysts at headquarters.

The changes are a shift in the direction set by J. Edgar Hoover, who
emphasized pursuing traditional criminals. Over time, that included the
gangsters and rumrunners of the Depression, the political militants of the
1960's and the drug lords of the 1980's and 1990's. The bureau judged its
success by the numbers of prominent criminals jailed, rather than by the
prevention of violent acts.

Mr. Mueller's proposals, his supporters say, are also intended to shake up
an insular culture that has resisted changes sought by other directors. Two
years ago, Mr. Mueller's predecessor, Louis J. Freeh, declared that
terrorism was the F.B.I.'s top priority, creating a separate division to
combat it. But it is the counterterrorism division that is now under heavy
fire for missing potential warning signals in the weeks before Sept. 11.

Mr. Mueller's reorganization reflects the current view in counterterrorism
circles that only an aggressive intelligence apparatus combined with a
vastly expanded analytical ability can thwart terrorism.

Mr. Mueller is expected to announce the creation of a new, centralized
intelligence analysis unit based at the headquarters in Washington.

"We can no longer be all things to all people in law enforcement," said one
high-ranking federal law enforcement official. "These changes are long
overdue."

Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican and a persistent critic of
the bureau, said he was unsure if the changes Mr. Mueller was said to be
planning would accomplish the goal of "changing the agency from one that
goes after Bonnie and Clyde to one that directs its attention to the likes
of Osama bin Laden."

Mr. Grassley said it was important to change the culture of the F.B.I. and
have it discard its traditional role of compiling statistics on the number
of crimes solved to preventing terrorist crimes for which there is often no
clear credit to be claimed. He said the shift of 620 agents represented a
small shift. Instead of 18 percent of the bureau's roughly 11,500 agents
devoted to counterterrorism duties, it would be 22 percent.

Moreover, Mr. Grassley was one of a handful of lawmakers who said they were
skeptical of the timing of Mr. Mueller's announcement.

Mr. Grassley said the announcement appeared to be intended to serve as a
distraction from the criticism the bureau is enduring over its failure to
detect a pattern in the intelligence warnings received in different
quarters of the government before Sept. 11.

While Mr. Mueller will emphasize looking forward, many members of Congress
are intent on looking backward at how the bureau dealt with information,
particularly from field offices in Minneapolis and Phoenix that might have
provided early clues to the Sept. 11 plot.

The most pointed criticism of the bureau's performance is contained in a
powerful and anguished letter sent to Mr. Mueller on May 21 from Coleen
Rowley, a veteran agent and counsel in the Minneapolis office. Ms. Rowley
said senior headquarters officials had stymied efforts by agents in her
office to investigate more aggressively Zacarias Moussaoui, a 33-year-old
French citizen who officials now say was meant to be the 20th hijacker. Mr.
Moussaoui was arrested on immigration violations after a flight school at
which he was enrolled informed the bureau that he was acting suspiciously.

Ms. Rowley wrote, "I have deep concerns that a delicate and subtle
shading/skewing of facts by you and others at the highest levels of F.B.I.
management has occurred and is occurring."

She warned Mr. Mueller that his statements that the bureau did not have any
information that would have prevented the attacks "demonstrate a rush to
judgment to protect the F.B.I. at all costs."

"I think it's critical that we get to the specifics behind Ms. Rowley's
statement that Mueller has made misrepresentations," Senator Arlen Specter,
Republican of Pennsylvania, said today. "That is a very serious charge, and
Mr. Mueller's changes on procedures have nothing to do with that."

Mr. Specter also said there should be an inquiry into why the bureau chose
not to seek a warrant, as urged by the Minneapolis office, from the special
secret court that considers such requests. The New York Times reported on
Monday that bureau officials might have been reluctant to submit the
application to search Mr. Moussaoui's computer because they had become wary
after a well-regarded supervisor was disciplined because the court
complained that he had submitted improper information on previous applications.

Mr. Specter said the Senate Judiciary Committee should question the
supervisor, Michael Resnick, and even the members of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, which issues national security search
warrants, but only informally, to find out what happened.

Under Mr. Hoover, the bureau carefully sought to connect with the public's
fascination with crime-fighting by projecting an image of courage and
unflappable professionalism in besting criminals.

But most of those were criminals in the familiar sense, unlike Islamic
terrorists capable of operating in highly disciplined cells and willing to
kill civilians and die for their cause.