The FBI, facing growing criticism for the bureau's failure to act on information that might have prevented the September 11 attacks, will announce changes today to boost analytical skills at the force and focus more on stopping acts of terrorism.
The FBI’s director Mr Robert Mueller is due to announce the second stage of a massive reorganization of the bureau, one that will shuffle resources and agents in an effort to focus on acts of terror.
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FBI’s director Mr Robert Mueller
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The changes will focus on improving the bureau's analytical and intelligence capabilities and will consolidate oversight of counter-terrorism and counterintelligence activities at the Washington headquarters.
Mr Mueller already has announced a massive campaign to recruit more than 900 new agents, and will announce some shuffling of staff to improve certain sectors of the bureau.
The moves are part of a reorganization launched last autumn, but come amid growing criticism by lawmakers and even some FBI agents that the bureau failed to properly read signals of potential trouble months before the September 11th attacks.
Mr Mueller, who took over as FBI chief just one week before the attacks, has faced tough questions over whether the bureau had information that may have helped prevent the attacks, but which it failed to understand or digest.
These have focused particularly on a memo written by an agent in Phoenix two months before the attacks on New York and Washington expressing concerns that Middle Eastern men linked to Osama bin Laden were taking lessons at US flight schools.
The memo was sent to FBI headquarters where it languished without action. Agents failed to connect it with the August arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen who was detained after raising suspicion at a flight school in Minnesota.
Officials now believe Moussaoui, who is charged with conspiracy, intended to join the 19 men who allegedly hijacked four passenger planes on September 11th.