Robert Mueller

“Prior to the passage of the Patriot Act, it was very difficult - often impossible - for us to share information with the Central Intelligence Agency, with NSA, with the other intelligence agencies, and likewise, for them to share information with us.”

“So there is a foreign intelligence purpose for every one of our FISA warrants.”

“Anyplace we go in the world, when someone asks us what we do, we feel an immense pride in saying, 'FBI.'”

“I know when I was here prosecuting homicides in the District of Columbia, one of the most effective units here was the cold case squad, which had on it FBI agents, as well as Metropolitan Police Department homicide detectives working together.”

“If I have the honor of being confirmed by the Senate, I will make it my highest priority to restore the public's confidence in the FBI and to re-earn the faith and trust of the American people.”

“And so every one of us in the FBI, I don't care if it's a file clerk someplace or an agent there or a computer specialist, understands that our main mission is to protect the public from another September 11, another terrorist attack.”

“I didn't know the organization, but the one thing you can say about the FBI, it's tremendously professional.”

“The 19 hijackers that came over here to commit the attack on Sept. 11, there were those that were at the bottom of the line. There were those who were the principal conspirators. There were those who were the pilot. Everybody has a role.”

“For the FBI and for the United States, the war on terrorism is a complex and perplexing issue. It is as complex and perplexing as any issue we have ever faced.”

“In planning an attack, persons have various roles.”

“I love prosecuting cases, and I love doing investigations, particularly homicide investigations and the like, and that's why I became a prosecutor.”

“But we had - I think if you look at law enforcement 10 years ago, if you look at the challenges, the FBI was focused excessively on what was happening in the United States.”

“If you look at the 19 hijackers who came to the United States in Sept. 11 to commit those acts, if you'd looked at them before they got onto a plane, you could probably say the same thing. There were various levels of expertise, various levels of competence.”

“My admonition is, 'No counterterrorism lead goes uncovered.'”

“I am convinced that there are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be. And even they are converging into one category: companies that have been hacked and will be hacked again.”

“It's because we need to determine who in this country is poised, positioned to commit terrorist acts.”

“I love doing bank robberies, drug cases, homicides - as a prosecutor, that's what I thought I was going to be overseeing when I got to the bureau.”