WASHINGTON, June 6 (UPI) -- An FBI agent told a Senate panel Thursday that an "ever-growing bureaucracy" at the bureau's headquarters hurts the ability of field agents to investigate terrorism.
Special Agent Colleen Rowley said these "roadblocks" contributed to her feeling that the FBI could have done more to prevent the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
"Mistakes are inevitable," Rowley told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "But a distinction can and should be drawn between those mistakes made when trying to do the right thing and those mistakes made due to selfish motives."
Rowley -- who is general counsel of the Minneapolis field office -- became a key actor in the post-Sept. 11 dramas when she accused the bureau's leadership of misleading the public on what could have been done to prevent the terror attacks on Washington and New York.
"I feel that certain facts have, up to now, been omitted, downplayed, glossed over and/or mis-characterized in an effort to avoid or minimize personal and/or institutional embarrassment on the part of the FBI and/or perhaps even for improper political reasons," her memo says.
Rowley also claims that interference from headquarters frustrated the Minneapolis field office's investigation into possible terrorist connections of Zacarias Moussaoui -- who was arrested almost a month before the attacks -- and prevented the agents from searching his possessions.
"Some of the entities (at FBI headquarters) don't see their job as assisting the agents in the field, but see their jobs as a gatekeeper function, or a power thing," she said. "There are limits installed by managers, but the worst problem is micromanagement."
She also said that much of the field agent's time is spent on "Paperwork. Writing foolish, endless reports."
FBI Director Robert Mueller had previously told the panel that the war on terrorism poses new challenges for federal law enforcement that require the FBI to change its structure -- a need highlighted by the agency's failure to prevent the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Mueller testified about recent revelations by Rowley and others that some FBI agents were suspicious of the activities of several alleged participants in the terror attacks on New York and Washington, but that their concerns were ignored or dampened by mid-level FBI management. This failure, he said, requires new hiring and broad reforms in the agency's fight against terror threats.
"The unpredictable and unconventional threats to our national security and serious crime problems that often reach beyond borders necessitates changes in the FBI, changes in our priorities, changes in our workforce, and changes in our approach to performing our mission," he said.
Mueller wants additional agents for the FBI and plans to reorganize the bureau to allow for more discretion by the individual agents in the 56 domestic field offices to act on investigations. He also hopes to establish a special response team to help with the sharing and analysis of information. In addition, Mueller would like to reduce the FBI's involvement in drug investigations, reassigning many of those agents to counter-terror operations and hiring new agents.
Communications breakdowns between various FBI offices and between the FBI and Central Intelligence Agency also contributed to the failure to detect the hijacking plots, Mueller said. As a result, the FBI plans to emphasize cooperation and the analysis of incoming intelligence.
"Equally important to the success of the Counter-terrorism Division reorganization is changing the underlying operations of the division to emphasize the importance and necessity of sharing information on a timely basis, creating an intelligence awareness among employees -- FBI and other agency -- so that we look at not only the case related value of information, but also its relevance to the larger, strategic view of a group or organization," he said.
The members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Mueller and Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine about decisions made prior to Sept. 11 by agents. One famous incident involves a memo developed by an FBI agent in Phoenix that postulated that terrorists could be seeking flight training.
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., pressed Mueller on why the memo's recommendation that the FBI should canvass flight schools for students from the Middle East was ignored.
"It is my understanding that the agent was afraid that it would look like ethnic profiling, do you think that is an appropriate concern in this case?" asked Feingold.
"Do I believe that was a valid concern?" Mueller asked. "No, no I do not."
