http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61549-2002Nov15.html

    Bush Aides Consider Domestic Spy Agency

    By Dana Priest and Dan Eggen
    Washington Post Staff Writers
    Saturday, November 16, 2002; Page A01

    President Bush's top national security advisers have begun discussing
    the creation of a new, domestic intelligence agency that would take
    over responsibility for counterterrorism spying and analysis from the
    FBI, according to U.S. government officials and intelligence experts.

    The high-level debate reflects a widespread concern that the FBI has
    been unable to transform itself from a law enforcement agency into an
    intelligence-gathering unit able to detect and thwart terrorist plans
    in the United States. The FBI has admitted it has not yet completed
    the cultural sea change necessary to turn its agents into spies, but
    the creation of a new agency is firmly opposed by FBI Director Robert
    S. Mueller III, who has said he believes the bureau can do the job.

    On Veterans Day, top national security officials gathered for two
    hours to discuss the issue in a meeting chaired by national security
    adviser Condoleezza Rice. White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card
    Jr., Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, CIA Director George J.
    Tenet, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, Mueller and six others
    attended.

    [...]