Panel to assess FBI reorganization plan

Former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh will head a congressionally appointed panel that will assess the FBI's reorganization plans, the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) announced Friday.

Thornburgh, who was FBI Director Robert Mueller's direct supervisor during the first Bush administration, will study whether Mueller's plans to restructure the bureau will align resources with the administration's new counterterrorism mission and improve coordination with other law enforcement agencies. Thornburgh will also assess the reorganization's impact on the bureau's personnel, performance management and technology systems.

The panel will present its findings June 21 at a House Appropriations Committee hearing.

Mueller announced plans on May 29 to devote more of the bureau's agents to investigating terrorism, spend less time investigating drug trafficking and create a new Office of Intelligence to analyze information about potential terrorist attacks.

After the announcement, the appropriations committee asked NAPA to convene a panel to assess Mueller's plans. Thornburgh, who is a former Republican governor of Pennsylvania, will be joined on the panel by Robert Alloway, a former House staff member; Kristine Marcy, a former Small Business Administration and Immigration and Naturalization Service official; NAPA President Robert O'Neill Jr.; and Harold Saunders, a former State Department and National Security Council official.

Thornburgh previously headed a commission to assess effective measures against child pornography on the Internet and headed up an investigation into mismanagement at the United Nations.

Mueller served as Thornburgh's assistant at the Justice Department from 1989 to 1990.