FBI Official to Take On Film Pirates : Movies: William M. Baker has been hired by the Motion Picture Assn. to head its anti-piracy program.

Assistant FBI Director William M. Baker, who has headed the bureau’s efforts to fight terrorism and organized and white-collar crime, is leaving to combat the $1.2-billion annual piracy of U.S. films for the Motion Picture Assn. of America, it was learned Tuesday.

Highly regarded by top Justice Department officials, Baker will leave a void at the FBI, where he has built a strong following among young street agents and crusty supervisors alike at Washington headquarters and among special agents in charge of field offices.

Baker, who was traveling to London Tuesday and could not be reached for comment, is known to have been disappointed last April when FBI Director William S. Sessions rejected a recommendation of the bureau’s career board to elevate Baker to the policy post of executive assistant director-investigations.

But colleagues said the setback was not the deciding factor in Baker’s decision to accept the MPAA post of senior vice president-director of worldwide anti-piracy, which will draw on his experience in managing international programs.

“He’ll be fighting 100,000 thieves instead of 26 (Mafia) families, one FBI official said.

At age 51 and with 24 years of FBI experience, Baker will draw full retirement when he joins the MPAA to combat the film industry’s leading bane--the worldwide piracy of its products, primarily in the form of videotapes.

An industry source said the MPAA job pays more than Baker’s $108,000 annual salary.

The crucial factor in Baker’s decision, one friend said, was the uphill assignment of managing MPAA efforts in 54 countries to reduce pirating. The efforts include law enforcement and civil law strategies, lobbying for stronger copyright laws, and international litigation.

In addition to his FBI experience, which includes continuing efforts to solve the terrorist downing of Pan American Flight 103, Baker served for two years as director of public affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency.

He went to the CIA in 1987 with former FBI Director William H. Webster, who was named director of central intelligence by then President Ronald Reagan and subsequently reappointed by President Bush. Baker then made the unusual move of returning to the FBI to head the criminal investigative division.

Beyond his public affairs role at the publicity-shy CIA, Baker served as a key adviser to Webster at the agency, a role he also played at the FBI during Webster’s tenure there.

Acting Atty. Gen. William P. Barr unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Baker to remain at the bureau, a Justice Department source said. Barr had been particularly impressed with Baker’s role in using the FBI’s hostage rescue team in the successful effort to free hostages held in the recent prison riot by Cubans in Talladega, Ala.

Bureau sources said that Baker informed Sessions of his decision to retire Monday. He will officially join the MPAA in December, moving to Los Angeles to assume the post.

From 1980 to 1982, Baker served as assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office.