FBI targets weapons of mass destruction

WASHINGTON — The FBI on Wednesday announced the creation of an investigative division focused on weapons of mass destruction, part of Director Robert Mueller's latest reorganization plan aimed at gathering intelligence and preventing terrorist attacks.

In addition to the new WMD Directorate, Mueller said he has hired an associate deputy to oversee finances and other administrative duties, and is adding or reshuffling several other senior positions.

The plan also includes a new science-and-technology branch encompassing the FBI Laboratory and other technical-support services.

Mueller, who has overseen a series of realignments since the Sept. 11 attacks, characterized the latest moves as the third phase of a process aimed at making the FBI into an agile and modern domestic-intelligence agency. Previous changes included a dramatic increase in the number of counterterrorism agents and the creation of a directorate focused on intelligence gathering and analysis.

Mueller's new associate deputy director, FBI veteran Joseph Ford, will be the No. 3 official and will oversee branches including human resources, information technology and finance.

Ford, a special agent since 1981, worked on the Enron corporate-fraud investigation and was head of the FBI's San Francisco office.

The WMD Directorate will be headed by Vahid Majidi, a former manager and scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who served as chief science adviser to the Justice Department.

The FBI has exploded in size over the past five years, especially in counterterrorism and counterintelligence.

But Mueller has acknowledged difficulties in several areas — including a failed effort to overhaul the FBI's antiquated case-management system — and the bureau has been criticized by lawmakers and outside analysts for being slow to modernize itself.