FBI Pushes to Expand Domain Into CIA's Intelligence Gathering

The FBI has also created intelligence squads for each of its 56 field offices around the country, a departure from the days when such squads were found only in larger offices such as Los Angeles, New York and Washington. These squads find and cultivate Americans traveling overseas. The bureau has begun, as well, to beef up its agents in U.S. embassies to collect intelligence from assets it established in the United States.

Mueller also wants to put the FBI in charge of disseminating all intelligence reports from sources -- foreigners or U.S. citizens -- living in the United States. Currently, the agency that collects such information is responsible for disseminating it. FBI officials say putting the bureau in charge would avoid duplication and confusion. CIA and other intelligence officials note that the FBI is still frequently behind in disseminating its reports, and several months ago had a backlog of more than 100 terrorism reports it had not distributed. Many of those reports are not outdated.

Former and current CIA officers and other intelligence officials said the FBI, which is still struggling to set up an intelligence-gathering department, is not ready to assume the lead role in domestic intelligence and is inexperienced in handling foreign assets whose real value is their work overseas, where the CIA runs intelligence gathering.

Taking control of the foreign intelligence-gathering role in the United States "is a bit ambitious for an agency that is just now building its intelligence capacity," said an administration official familiar with the discussions. "The CIA has been collecting foreign intelligence for over 50 years and has the skills, ability and reserves to do the job."

The FBI argues that existing statutes have long given the FBI the ability to conduct such operations. "We always had that ability; it's whether we exercised it or not. . . . We now have a much more robust counterintelligence program, and we don't want to lose opportunities to obtain information."

One FBI official said the bureau is now interested in tackling more responsibilities because it is rebuilding its intelligence program. The FBI now has a senior executive overseeing intelligence and analysis operations and is struggling to attract a trained cadre of analysts.

For the first time last year, the FBI implemented a comprehensive set of rules for its foreign counterintelligence program, following the launch of similar guidelines for its counterterrorism program in late 2003, officials said last week.

FBI officials cited examples of possible new bureau activities that include the recruitment of foreign nationals working at embassies and the United Nations, interviews of business executives with extensive trade overseas, and more intensive monitoring of suspected dual-use technologies sought by the Chinese military and other powers, the official said.

All of these activities are what the CIA's National Resources Division has been doing for decades.

Staff writer Dan Eggen contributed to this report.