Mueller’s ‘Buck Stops Here’ Stance

San Francisco prosecutor Robert S. Mueller, all but certain to be confirmed as the next head of the FBI, vowed Tuesday to hold himself personally responsible for any future spy flare-ups at the bureau in the wake of fired agent Robert Philip Hanssen’s espionage.

“Anything that happens or does not happen in the bureau, should I be confirmed, is my responsibility,” Mueller said as he closed out two days of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to be FBI director.

Mueller’s “the buck stops here” pledge came in response to concerns from Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who complained that former intelligence officials have tried to deflect the blame for espionage scandals on their watches.

Mueller said that won’t happen with him at the helm of the 27,000-employee FBI. If the bureau fails to upgrade security and counterintelligence measures to ensure that “there is no additional Hanssen, then that is my responsibility,” Mueller told Specter.

The performance earned Mueller another round of effusive praise from members of the Judiciary Committee, who are scheduled to vote Thursday on Mueller’s nomination. Many expect a unanimous vote in favor of Mueller, who is now the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, followed by quick approval on the full Senate floor by the end of the week. If approved, he would succeed Louis J. Freeh, who stepped down in June with two years left in the 10-year assignment.

Mueller’s two home-state senators, Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, testified enthusiastically on his behalf Tuesday, citing the Republican’s success in turning around a San Francisco prosecutor’s office plagued by poor performance and low morale.

“Robert Mueller is a man who can come in and whip an operation into shape--no nonsense, no excuses, just results,” Feinstein said.

But senators stressed that the recent string of embarrassments at the FBI--Hanssen’s guilty plea, the failure to turn over thousands of pages of documents to defense attorneys for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh, the Wen Ho Lee espionage investigation and others--will train the spotlight on Mueller.

“I hope you also understand . . . that we’re putting a lot of faith in you and a lot of hope in you,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the committee. “You’ve got to set the standard for everybody else.”

Mueller, who said at the opening of his hearing Monday that his priority would be restoring the public’s faith in the FBI, expounded on a variety of thorny issues facing the bureau as he responded to questions from the committee Tuesday. Among the issues he promised to address:

* Racial profiling. Mueller said that, “from the first day an FBI agent sets foot in the academy in Quantico [Va.], agents will be trained to know that profiling is “abhorrent to the Constitution” and will not be tolerated in bureau investigations.

* Computer upgrades. Mueller said some areas of FBI technology are badly out of date, leading to problems in the McVeigh case and elsewhere in retrieving data. A three-year computer upgrade program will be one of his priorities.

But when asked about controversy surrounding the FBI’s “Carnivore” program, which allows agents with a court order to track e-mail and Web browsing, Mueller said he is “sensitive to the concerns relating to privacy.”

Mueller said he has already begun meeting with privacy advocates to find a way to balance law enforcement investigative needs and privacy interests.

* Terrorism. Mueller said he supports a plan to give the Federal Emergency Management Agency, rather than the FBI, authority for working with local officials to prepare for and respond to a catastrophic attack. But he said he wants to ensure that the FBI retains clear authority for investigating crime scenes after terrorist incidents.

* Gun policy. Mueller backpedaled from his surprising statement a day earlier on gun records, when he was asked whether Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft’s recent decision to destroy gun purchase records almost immediately could hurt the FBI’s ability to keep guns away from criminals.

Mueller, who would report to Ashcroft, said Monday that he agreed the move could subvert the FBI’s gun program, but when the issue came up again Tuesday, he hedged considerably.

“I cannot say one way or the other what the effect . . . would be on law enforcement, basically because I am ignorant of the underlying factual material, and I have not been part of the debate,” Mueller said. “I responded it could [hurt the FBI], because I cannot rule out any possibilities. But it is from a basis of ignorance that I respond.”

Feinstein, who said she was “really affronted” by Ashcroft’s plan, told Mueller she plans to give him a month to consider the gun record issue and then ask his opinion again--in writing.