For Broader Integrity

Robert Mueller, whose congressional confirmation as the new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is expected this week, will have an opportunity to enact reforms at the beleaguered bureau and restore its tarnished reputation.

Mr. Mueller is likely to breeze through Congress in near- record time - his nomination was sent to Capitol Hill July 18. It's remarkable these days for anyone to enjoy such a high degree of bipartisan support.

Mueller, whom Senate Judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont called "a man of total integrity," has no small task ahead. He must fix, with the rigor expected of the FBI, failures that led to a series of recent high-profile mistakes at the bureau. They include the FBI's fumble in not turning over all the documents in the Timothy McVeigh case, the botched handling of Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, and the agency's suspect decisions during the raids at Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Mueller must also make sure the agency is rid of spies like Robert Hanssen, who, for far too long, went undetected. A simple series of lie-detector checks likely would have routed him out.

Mueller's background as a federal prosecutor and head of the Justice Department's criminal division during the first Bush administration should serve him well. A Republican with a conservative, law-and-order reputation, Mueller must work not only inside the bureau to eliminate what he told Congress was "an erosion of management oversight," but outside as well to restore declining public confidence in the FBI. Mueller's combination of qualities seems right for the job, which takes strong management skills, fair-mindedness, willingness to take unpopular stands, and the exercise of sound judgment.

He'll have to pay particularly close attention to criticism that the FBI is too insular. Changing the internal culture at the bureau, which has some 27,000 employees, won't be easy. But if accountability is Mueller's watchword, as expected, he should do well.