Editorial: Untying the hands of the FBI’s agents

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 5:01 a.m.

Last week FBI Director Robert Mueller announced a sweeping overhaul of the bureau. Particularly welcome was Mueller's decision to let field agents investigate suspected terrorist activity without first having to get permission from Washington. Before Sept. 11, FBI headquarters had failed to follow up on warning signs from field agents that pointed to terrorist activity in the United States.

The Justice Department also released new guidelines that will give FBI agents greater freedom to monitor Internet websites and religious institutions in order to prevent suspected terrorist activities. It should be remembered that it was Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, now in prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, who built a following of people with links to al-Qaida when he preached at mosques in New York and New Jersey. Terrorists are waging a war against us, and sometimes that means using basic investigative tools -- all that strictly adhere to constitutional protections -- to stop them before they hit again.