ASHINGTON, Dec. 19 — Director Robert S. Mueller III of the F.B.I. rejected the idea of a new domestic intelligence agency today, for the first time expressing explicit opposition to the proposal by lawmakers and others who have said the bureau should be stripped of its primary role in countering terrorism in the United States.

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Mr. Mueller said in a speech to a criminal research group in New York that a new domestic intelligence agency would be "a step backward in the war on terror" and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was "uniquely situated for the counterterrorism mission."

Mr. Mueller's defense of the F.B.I.'s authority was his most explicit statement on the subject and followed Congressional critics who have complained that the bureau failed to interpret warning signs that might have led authorities to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks.

Some lawmakers have said a new agency should take over the bureau's intelligence gathering role, which would be turned over to the Department of Homeland Security.

The joint House and Senate intelligence inquiry into lapses by the F.B.I. and C.I.A. before the attacks concluded this month that a cabinet level officer should oversee intelligence throughout the government, but the panel did not recommend a new intelligence agency. Last month, an advisory group led by James S. Gilmore III, a former governor of Virginia, said a new agency should take over intelligence gathering.

The Bush administration has said it has no plans to recommend a new agency, but senior officials have considered the proposal, and the discussion continues to circulate in intelligence circles among officials who fear that the F.B.I. cannot collect intelligence about possible attacks while investigating terrorism.

Mr. Mueller said the bureau had taken steps to improve intelligence analysis and had fixed problems that had hampered information sharing.

"This crumbling of pre 9/11 walls brings us to the issue of whether America should create a new domestic intelligence agency similar to the British MI-5," Mr. Mueller said. "This idea is based on a faulty understanding of counterterrorism that sees a dichotomy between `intelligence operations' and `law enforcement operations.' This misunderstanding of counterterrorism has led some to conclude that we should separate these two functions and create a new domestic intelligence agency."

But, Mr. Mueller said: "Building new walls is going in the wrong direction. There is no reason to separate the two functions."

Mr. Mueller spoke on a day when European justice ministers agreed to allow the European Union's law enforcement agency, Europol, to share information with the F.B.I.