After death of J. Edgar Hoover, congressional and other critics complained that the Bureau in the 1960's was not only violating the rights of citizens, it was wasting its resources and energies on trivial cases and meaningless statistical accomplishments. Beginning with Director Clarence Kelley, the Bureau pledged that it would end the abuses and redirect its energies to more important matters. As a result of changes in investigative priorities, domestic security cases and routine crimes such as auto theft were de-emphasized; and 'priority' cases such as white collar crime, organized crime, and foreign counterintelligence began to receive special attention. Where the internal structure of a typical field office had been organized around the need to respond to the reports of crimes that victims submitted, a new structure was designed so that most squads had the task of identifying individuals, groups, and organizations for intensive scrutiny on the grounds that they were suspected of being involved in major conspiracies or political corruption. Under increasing pressure from Congress to concentrate on the priority cases, the Bureau also began to rely more heavily on undercover operations, since informants -- who had traditionally provided investigators with useful information -- were not easy to find among high--level executives and politicians. Agents posed as thieves, fences, or businessmen and used recording equipment to develop hard physical evidence. The Abscam operation was no different in design from those used in many other cases that earned praise for the Bureau. What was different in this case was that congressmen were involved and that the operation was leaked to the press before indictments were issued. A reference list or footnotes are not included.