Robert Mueller

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday vigorously challenged FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III for the bureau's handling of the anthrax mailings investigation, signaling that they were not convinced the case had been solved. Both the panel's Democratic chairman and its most senior Republican said that, based on what evidence they had seen, the FBI had not proved that the mailings were perpetrated solely by Bruce E.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III struggled Tuesday to allay congressional concerns about management problems at the bureau, including a report of widespread abuse of its power to obtain phone, Internet and financial records without court oversight.

The controversy surrounding Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales widened last week after FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III gave testimony on Capitol Hill about an administration anti-terrorism program, testimony that seemed to contradict sworn statements made earlier by the attorney general. Now Democrats are alleging that Gonzales lied to Congress and are even calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor by the Justice Department.

The FBI's storied workforce is being dismantled and reassembled as Director Robert S. Mueller III tries to overhaul the hidebound agency. The result is a culture war between old and new, and older agents are rebelling. Among the disaffected are hundreds of agents in field offices around the country who are suddenly facing forced transfers to FBI headquarters. Many, including Michael Clark, are leaving.

Lawmakers criticized FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III on Thursday for continued problems with a costly computer project that was supposed to dramatically improve management of terrorism and other criminal cases. Mueller acknowledged he did not know how much the FBI's Virtual Case File would cost beyond the $170 million already budgeted and largely spent, or when FBI agents and analysts would have it on their computers. After the attacks of Sept.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, fighting calls for an independent domestic intelligence agency, proposed Thursday that the bureau create its own service to gather information to combat terrorism. The division would be largely independent from the rest of the FBI and have its own budget. It would include all the bureau's intelligence-gathering resources, from translators to surveillance activities. The chief would report directly to Mueller.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III acknowledged Wednesday that in the weeks before Sept. 11 the bureau missed "red flags" in Minnesota and Arizona that could have led investigators to the terrorist hijackers. Mueller's sobering concession was at odds with the Bush administration's previous assertions that authorities could not have done anything to disrupt the attacks.

Is the FBI pursuing a 20th century solution to a 21st century problem? That question likely will be at the heart of the debate over the sweeping reorganization plan that FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III announced Wednesday to sharpen the agency's focus on terrorism. Mueller's ambitious plan, responding to searing criticism over the FBI's failure to correlate leads before Sept. 11's terrorist attacks, strives to improve the analytic capacity at the agency's Washington headquarters.

President Bush has yet to name a replacement for former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, but the politicking has already begun both for and against a San Francisco prosecutor who has emerged as the leading contender to head an agency under siege. While the lobbying so far has been low-key as the White House mulls the selection, the stakes are enormous in determining who will lead an agency that once was regarded as the crown jewel of U.S. law enforcement but now has become distrusted by many.

When the Justice Department dispatched Robert Mueller to become the top federal prosecutor in the Bay Area three years ago, he was a Marine on a mission. From his nondescript 11th-floor office overlooking one of San Francisco's seedier neighborhoods, Mueller took on an operation in crisis. His predecessor as U.S. attorney was facing allegations of misconduct. The office had the nation's worst record for prosecuting environmental crimes.