Law enforcement

How the FBI's intelligence experiment went wrong

For the second time in two decades, the FBI finds itself in turmoil. This time, unlike the first, the problem is of the bureau’s own making — and it needs to course-correct quickly, for the sake of itself and the country it serves.

To do so, one must consider that earlier tumultuous episode and how the response to it ultimately led to the second.

The events of 9/11 have been variously described as a gut punch or a Mike Tyson uppercut to the FBI. Unprepared to understand the threat before the attack or to immediately respond afterward, FBI agents across the country went home to email documents and photographs of the terrorists using their personal AOL accounts because, unbelievably, they lacked technology at work. Then-Director Robert Mueller, who had experience in criminal matters as a prosecutor and Department of Justice official, had been on the job just seven days on that Tuesday morning, but he knew the bureau had to change — and fast.

There were cries to break up the FBI or establish a stand-alone internal security service like Britain’s MI5. Mueller reflexively knew that was a bad idea for two reasons: Other democracies with internal services didn’t have a Constitution and Bill of Rights, and most of those services wanted what the FBI already had — the ability to use criminal investigative tools in the fight against terrorism and counterintelligence threats.