Robert Mueller
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Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| Official Portrait |
Robert Swan Mueller III (born August 7, 1944) is the current Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mueller was born in New York City, New York and grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mueller and his wife, Ann, have two daughters.
Early life
A 1962 graduate of St. Paul's School, he went on to graduate from Princeton University in 1966 and earned a masters degree in international relations at New York University in 1967. He then joined the United States Marine Corps, where he served as an officer for three years, leading a rifle platoon of the Third Marine Division in the Vietnam War. He is the recipient of the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals, the Purple Heart and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
Law work
Following his military service, Mueller earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of Virginia in 1973 and served on the Law Review. After completing his education, Mueller worked as a litigator in San Francisco until 1976. He then served for 12 years in United States Attorney's Offices, first in the Northern District of California in San Francisco, where he rose to be chief of its criminal division. In 1982, he moved to Boston as an Assistant United States Attorney where he investigated and prosecuted major financial fraud, terrorism and public corruption cases, as well as narcotics conspiracies and international money launderers.
After serving as a partner at the Boston law firm of Hill and Barlow, Mueller was again called to public service. In 1989 he served in the United States Department of Justice as an assistant to Attorney General Richard L. Thornburgh. The following year he took charge of its criminal division. During his tenure, he oversaw prosecutions, including the conviction of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, the Lockerbie Pan Am 103 bombing case, and the John Gotti mobster prosecution. In 1991, he was elected Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
In 1993, Mueller became a partner at Boston's Hale and Dorr, specializing in complex white collar crime litigation. He returned to public service in 1995 as senior litigator in the homicide section of the District of Columbia United States Attorney's Office. In 1998, Mueller was named United States Attorney in San Francisco and held that position until 2001.
FBI Apointment
Nominated for the job as the nation's top cop happened on July 6, 2001. He and two other choices were up for the job at the time, but he was always considered the front runner. Washington lawyer George Terwilliger and veteran Chicago prosecutor and white-collar defense lawyer Dan Webb were up for the job but both pulled out from consideration around mid-June. Confirmation hearings for Muller, in front of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, where quickly set for July 30 days before his prostate cancer surgery. The vote on the US Senate floor happened on August 2, 2001, which passed 98 yeas - 0 nays. He then served as Acting Deputy Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice for several months, before officially becoming the FBI Director on September 4, 2001, just one week before the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States.
Quote
On the September 11, 2001 hijackers:
References
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| Directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation |
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| Finch | Bielaski | Allen | Flynn | Burns | Hoover | Gray | Ruckelshaus | Kelley | Adams | Webster | Otto | Sessions | Clarke | Freeh | Pickard | Mueller | ||
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