But originally, the plan was to go much further. Sources tell NEWSWEEK that prior to Bush’s State of the Union, Tenet and FBI Director Robert Mueller had reached a historic accord: to move the entire Counter-Terrorism Division out of FBI headquarters and house it in a new northern Virginia office building alongside the Counter-Terrorism Center of the CIA. When word of the plan first spread through bureau headquarters last Monday, some senior agents went ballistic. “I’m a law-enforcement officer. I’m not working for any goddam CIA agent,” said one FBI veteran who was on the verge of resignation.
Across the river at CIA headquarters in Langley, resistance by the spooks was just as fierce. One big concern: that the spies would have to share info obtained from foreign services under pledges of absolute confidentiality. At the last minute, one official says, Tenet “blinked” and the plan for “co-locating” the counterterrorism troops of both agencies was pulled back. But only for the time being. In a talk to his underlings the next day, Tenet said the co-location plan should still move forward so long as it could be accomplished “without jeopardizing the mission” of the CIA. Sources say a new Bush administration task force is working hard to smooth out the kinks and implement the plan soon–possibly as early as next month–whether the troops like it or not.
