Bush Approves Spy Agency Changes

Mueller said he views the changes as "the next step in our ability to protect the American public."

"I don't see it as a loss of independence at all," he said. "I see it as an acknowledgment and a furtherance of the development of the FBI to respond to the threats of today."

At the White House, Townsend said that many of the changes ordered yesterday were outgrowths of the Intelligence Reform Act approved by Congress in December, which created Negroponte's office and called for other changes in the intelligence community.

"The agencies did not approach this as a zero-sum game where some won and some lost," she said.

Negroponte's deputy, Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, told reporters that the FBI's new service is "something we've not done before as a nation" but also said that Mueller's deputy already sits in with other intelligence agency managers at meetings with the director of national intelligence. The new FBI national security official will be "dual-hatted" and will report to both Mueller and Negroponte, he said.

Many details of the new plan remain to be worked out. Bush's order gives Gonzales 60 days to come up with an implementation plan.

Many of the dozens of changes recommended by the Silberman-Robb commission dealt with details of intelligence analysis, training and sharing of information. Hayden said that 30 initiatives relating to intelligence analysis, including many commission recommendations, have already been initiated. For the CIA, a new official will oversee human intelligence operations overseas by all agencies, including the FBI and the Pentagon.

Townsend said three commission recommendations required further study, including a finding that three agencies should be held accountable for failures on prewar intelligence in Iraq. Another recommendation, which was not identified because it is classified, has not been adopted, she said.