Washington had rarely seen such urgency and bipartisan
resolve. On a warm September day, the president and his handpicked Federal Bureau
of Investigation director laid out a new vision for what Vermont Senator Patrick
Leahy has called the "crown jewel" of law enforcement agencies. "Today's FBI,"
the president said, "operates in a new and challenging world. Terrorism once
seemed far from our shores, an atrocity visited on people in other lands. Now,
after the attack on the World Trade Center, we know that we, too, are
vulnerable."
