WASHINGTON -- FBI supervisors in the war on terror have acknowledged they lacked expertise, but Director Robert Mueller says he is unwilling to require such managers to have backgrounds in Arabic, the Middle East or international issues.

"Let me tell you that we want to develop that within the bureau, but making that an absolute requirement _ if you do not have it you would be precluded from advancing in counterterrorism _ no," Mueller testified recently.

In this undated family handout photo, FBI Counterterrorism agent Bassem Youssef, right, stands with the FBI Director Louis Freeh. In a development that has escaped public attention, FBI agent Bassem Youssef has questioned under oath many of the FBI's top leaders, including Director Robert Mueller and his predecessor, Louis Freeh, in an effort to show he was passed over for top terrorism jobs despite his expertise.

In this undated family handout photo, FBI Counterterrorism agent Bassem Youssef, right, stands with the FBI Director Louis Freeh. In a development that has escaped public attention, FBI agent Bassem Youssef has questioned under oath many of the FBI's top leaders, including Director Robert Mueller and his predecessor, Louis Freeh, in an effort to show he was passed over for top terrorism jobs despite his expertise.

The subject came up in the case of an agent who complained that he had been passed over for promotion in favor of less-experienced men.

Mueller described his own expertise in Middle Eastern terrorism as having been "relatively limited" when he took over the FBI a week before the Sept. 11 attacks. For instance, he acknowledged he didn't know that a blind sheik imprisoned for plotting attacks in New York had been a spiritual adviser to Osama bin Laden.

"I am not certain of the role played between the blind sheik and bin Laden," Mueller conceded.

Mueller also testified he didn't give any guidance to his top managers to seek out the bureau's most experienced counterterrorism agents to work on the war on terror immediately after Sept. 11.

"It was in their hands as to how they did that," Mueller said in a wide-ranging deposition obtained by The Associated Press.

AP reported Sunday that most of the men Mueller appointed to run the war on terror testified that, despite the FBI's pledge to build national expertise in terrorism, they didn't believe Middle East and terrorism experience had been important for choosing the agents they promoted.

Gary Bald, the bureau's executive assistant director in charge of terrorism, testified he had to get his terrorism training on the job when he came to headquarters two years ago. And when asked about his grasp of Middle Eastern culture and history, he replied: "I wish that I had it. It would be nice."

When shown Bald's statements, Mueller defended his selection by saying Bald had run the FBI's Baltimore office during the time of the Washington sniper shootings.

"Running the office gave him some exposure to terrorism," Mueller answered. "Yes, I think absolutely it would give, contribute to his ability to handle counterterrorism."

The testimony has been given in a lawsuit brought against the FBI by one of its most accomplished pre-Sept. 11 terror-fighting agents, Bassem Youssef, who claims he was passed over for top jobs in headquarters despite his expertise.

The testimony has concerned both Republican and Democratic investigators on the Senate Judiciary Committee who are comparing the FBI's actual practices in the war on terror with its sworn promises to Congress and the American public.

The concerns, however, go beyond Congress.

In this undated family handout photo, FBI Counterterrorism agent Bassem Youssef, right, stands with the FBI Director Louis Freeh. In a development that has escaped public attention, FBI agent Bassem Youssef has questioned under oath many of the FBI's top leaders, including Director Robert Mueller and his predecessor, Louis Freeh, in an effort to show he was passed over for top terrorism jobs despite his expertise. In this undated family handout photo, FBI Counterterrorism agent Bassem Youssef, right, stands with the FBI Director Louis Freeh. In a development that has escaped public attention, FBI agent Bassem Youssef has questioned under oath many of the FBI's top leaders, including Director Robert Mueller and his predecessor, Louis Freeh, in an effort to show he was passed over for top terrorism jobs despite his expertise.

The staff of the independent commission that reviewed Sept. 11 failures conducted interviews with FBI field agents in the war on terror.

"Many field agents felt the supervisory agents in the counterterrorism division at headquarters lacked the necessary experience in counterterrorism to guide their work," the staff wrote in one report.

Mueller described his top anti-terror managers' knowledge of dealing with foreign governments, Middle East history, international terrorism and al-Qaida this way: "Helpful, not essential."

"Leadership ability is transferable," he said. "And often you can pick up the subject matter if you've got leadership skills."

An agent recently named to a top counterterrorism job compared the FBI today with a baseball manager without baseball experience but good leadership skills and experienced people around him.

The manager can "make a pretty good go of it," Deputy Assistant Director John Lewis testified. "But at the end of the season, he's not going to be able to win over the guy on the other side of the field who has all those same things _ plus 20 years of major experience."

Lewis suggested it might take the FBI until 2020 to get the sort of top-level anti-terrorism experience it needs. "Hopefully, the bureau is putting forward its best managers today. In this business, we don't have anyone with 20 years experience who has worked counterterrorism to the extent we're working it today," he said. "I would dare say that some of the midlevel managers that we have today who have been willingly neck-deep in this problem for the last two years are probably among our most seasoned and experienced people."

On the Net:

Audio excerpts from Mueller's deposition are available at:

http://wid.ap.org/inv/fbijobs.html

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