Quotes from Robert Mueller

I would say in just about every investigation we have, there will be differences of opinion, where you have partial facts, as to what those facts mean.

People talk about the Patriot Act that was passed immediately in the wake of September 11. What the Patriot Act did was break down the walls between the various agencies.

We had to address information technology in the ways we had not before and give the agents the tools that they need to do their job more efficiently and more expeditiously.

We cannot turn back the clock. We cannot undo the impact of technology. Nor would we want to.

I think around the world, our agents are the best collectors of information you'll find.

Leaking of classified material is a concern.

The overwhelming majority of Muslims in this country and overseas are peaceful, law-abiding citizens. However, a small number of Muslims are members of fundamentalist sects sworn to the destruction of the United States.

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

What we bring to the table is not only our 56 field offices in the United States and our number of resident agencies, but also we have 45 legal attaches overseas.

All I'm going to tell you is investigations, whether it be this and others, where you have partial facts, analysts, agents are always trying to interpret what those facts mean, extrapolate from them what they mean.

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

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.

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.

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.

I do believe when there are advances in technology that it is important to balance the privacy interests affected with the investigative take that you might get from that technology.

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

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.

We need to take lessons learned from fighting terrorism and apply them to cyber crime.

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

I think, in the wake of Sept. 11, it's important for the American public to understand that to the extent that there are individuals within the United States who would undertake terrorist attacks, that we are doing something to address that.

And from the moment that we realized it was a terrorist attack, there isn't an agent or a support person in the FBI that wasn't committed to bringing to justice those who were responsible for this.

The FBI's principal priority right now is protecting the United States against another terrorist attack.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, it became clear that the FBI's number one priority must be the prevention of another terrorist attack.

I asked a Burmese why women, after centuries of following their men, now walk ahead. He said there were many unexploded land mines since the war.