Mueller's Mandate
The FBI chief has a little job to do--overhaul the agency from top to bottom
Last November, Gebhardt, the deputy director, sent an E-mail to field supervisors saying he was "amazed and astounded" by the failure of field agents to develop sources. "You need to instill urgency," Gebhardt wrote. ". . . You are the leaders of the FBI. You cannot fail at this mission. Too many people are depending on us." Gebhardt says his memo was meant to energize agents, not to scold them.
Perhaps. Many agents appreciate Mueller's efforts to solve problems. "He seems to be very honest, very approachable," says Nancy Savage, president of the FBI Agents Association. "He wants to know directly if there's a problem." But others are resentful of his push for change. "A lot of agents are saying, `To hell with it--get someone else to do this,' " asserts former agent Stroz. They construe Mueller's urgency as impatience, his directness as a lack of regard. So far, Mueller and his laser focus on terror aren't creating a lot of warm and fuzzies among the troops. During one of Mueller's trips to a field office, an agent asked him about the status of "office of preference," a perk that allows agents to select a field office, once in their careers. It's especially important to New York agents, because that posting is considered the pits. The agents say Mueller was unsympathetic and replied that if an agent didn't like his posting, there were 70,000 applicants waiting to take his place. Mueller says he never indicated he would discontinue the program. "I do believe it's important," says Mueller. "I have told agents, though, that . . . if there are skills that are needed someplace in the organization that sacrifice is necessary. . . . The needs of the organization come first."
Still Your Father's FBI?
Director Robert Mueller's effort to focus on the fight against terror requires changes in the way the FBI has traditionally done business--changes involving the bureau's workload and prosecution strategy as well as the makeup of its workforce. The charts below document a "work in progress."
ON THE RISE
After 9/11 there was a spike in the FBI's referral of terror-related cases to prosecutors.
[Complete chart data are not available.]
[labels]
1998 149
1999
2000
2001
2002 1,297
STILL A SMALL SLICE
Those terror-related referrals still represent only a tiny percentage of the bureau's overall caseload.
3.7 pct. Terrorism referrals
96.3 pct. Referrals for other crimes
THE BIGGER PICTURE
The FBI's total number of referrals to prosecutors has been dropping.
[Complete chart data are not available.]
[labels]
1998 42,170
1999
2000
2001
2002 35,382
FBI DEMOGRAPHICS
18.1 pct. Women
81.9 pct. Men
3.5 pct. American Indian and Asian
5.6 pct. Black
7.4 pct. Hispanic
83.5 pct. White
Sources: FBI, Syracuse University's TRAC Reports Inc.
USN&WR
With Christopher H. Schmitt, Sheila Thalhimer and Monica Ekman
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