Robert Mueller

The FBI (and the CIA) also came under fire after the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks when it became clear that the two agencies didn't share critical counterterrorism information. Some wanted both agencies to be combined under the newly-created Department of Homeland Security, but Mueller promised to turn over all intelligence data, even raw information. He said homeland security's involvement in the FBI counterterrorism task forces "will prove to be as valuable as anything else."

Reformer

In 1995, when Mueller joined the homicide division of the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., he worked closely with detectives to drastically improve the closing rates of homicide cases. When President Clinton appointed Mueller as U.S. attorney in San Francisco, that office had seen prosecutions fall to a record low. Mueller forced all the supervisors to reapply for their jobs; none of them continued in their old positions.

During his time as U.S. attorney for Northern California, Mueller increased the number of women supervisors by more than 50 percent and also hiked the number of underrepresented minorities in the office. He cracked down on white-collar and high-tech crimes, and drug rings. "It was a troubled office, and he shook things up," Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said in 2001. "The U.S. attorney's office had an ingrained culture that was hard to change, but he was able to change it very rapidly. I think he will be able to do the same with the FBI."

Mueller made reform his goal when he was appointed FBI director. At his Senate confirmation hearing, he said he would push for improved management and technology. He wanted to change the bureau's insular image to one of cooperation with other agencies.

In 2002, Mueller shifted nearly 500 agents from drug enforcement and other criminal investigations to counterterrorism, upping to 2,600 the number of terrorism agents. He brought in top agents to headquarters and updated the FBI's computer system. He briefed the president daily and talked with congressmen regularly as well, but he shuns reporters.

Mueller's bipartisan relationships likely helped him survive difficult times, like when Time wrote a 2002 cover story entitled, "How the FBI Blew the Case," referencing Sept. 11th, or when the Washington Post revealed that Mueller was using the FBI jet for public events or to visit field offices when it was designated for anti-terrorism missions.

High-Profile Cases

During his time with the Justice Department's Criminal Division, Mueller handled some of its most prominent cases. Before invading Panama in 1989, President George H.W. Bush brought Mueller in to ensure the drug-trafficking case against Panamanian ruler Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega would hold.

Mueller also oversaw the investigation of mob boss John Gotti, and he led the successful prosecution of two Libyans after Pan-Am flight 103 was bombed in 1988, killing 193. At the time, it was called the "largest international terrorist investigation ever conducted" by then-FBI Director William S. Sessions.

NSA Wiretapping

Mueller was one of the Justice Department officials who threatened to resign if the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program continued against the will of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who temporarily was in charge when then-AG Ashcroft was sick.

The Bush administration made changes to the program to avoid the crisis. Mueller also told the House Judiciary Committee in July 2007 that he had reservations about the wiretapping program.

Death Penalty

Despite some of his conservative views, Mueller was hugely popular in liberal San Francisco. A supporter of both mandatory minimum sentences and the death penalty, Mueller led the first modern federal death penalty case in Northern California.

Congress had reinstated the federal death penalty in 1988. In 2000, Mueller personally prosecuted the case against Walter Pierre Rausini, a southern California drug dealer who was accused of murdering informants. He eventually pleaded guilty and Mueller agreed to a 40-year sentence. Mueller also reportedly pushed for the death penalty for spy Robert Hanssen.

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