Posted on 05/28/2002 12:21:12 PM PDT by OKCSubmariner
The director of the FBI is facing allegations from one of the bureau's lawyers that he twisted the truth to hide failings by senior agents that could have prevented the September 11 attacks.
Speaking of Mueller......Did you know that Boxer backed his nomination to head the FBI?
Did you know that the Judiciary Commitee and the Senate acted on his nomination and confirmation faster than most and within 2 weeks he was confirmed?
Did you knowit took over a month to swear him in as FBI director?
Did you know he was Acting Deputy Director of the DOJ from January through May, went home for a month and was then nominated to head the FBI?
Liberal Senators Back Mueller for FBI; Privacy Advocates Wary
Wes Vernon Friday, July 6, 2001
WASHINGTON - Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., a rival to Sen. Edward Kennedy as the Senate's most reliable leftist, has given a fulsome endorsement to Robert Mueller, President Bush's pick for FBI director. Privacy advocates are withholding judgment.
In a statement faxed by her office to NewsMax.com, Boxer praises Mueller, U.S. attorney for Northern California, as having "all the qualities needed to become an outstanding Director of the FBI." "He has extensive law enforcement experience at every level, from line prosecutor to U.S. Attorney to high level positions in the Justice Department," she added.
"His courage and devotion to his country are unquestioned and were demonstrated early in his career when he become a highly decorated Marine officer."
Speaking of Kennedy, his reaction was to recall that Mueller had "demonstrated considerable skill in the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston and San Francisco, and as head of the Criminal Division in the Department of Justice." Boxer's enthusiasm contrasts with a more "wait and see" approach by privacy advocates.
Noting that Mueller was familiar with technical issues involving the FBI, Lisa Dean, vice president of technology policy for the Free Congress Foundation, expressed the hope that the nominee would have a sense of "balance" between high-technology methods of catching criminals and the privacy rights of Americans.
"I don't know how he comes down on" that "balance," said David Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. He said he had met the nominee in a meeting hosted by Attorney General John Ashcroft. That meeting with law enforcement officials and privacy advocates was to discuss computer crime and related privacy concerns.
Sobel said he did not know Mueller's views on those matters, but "he is certainly knowledgeable about them." Accuracy in Media President Reed Irvine, who has frequently clashed with the FBI over investigations which he believes were either botched or covered up, referred NewsMax.com to a June 11 column by New York Times columnist William Safire.
Recalling that Mueller led the Justice Department's Criminal Division in the senior Bush's administration, the columnist describes him as an "intelligent apparatchik." Apparently, the FBI pick is a survivor of the bureaucratic wars who has managed to avoid rocking boats in the administrations of both Bushes and Clinton. The following are examples:
1 - Mueller "showed a marked lack of interest in the Iraqgate investigation." The accusation in that case was that the Bush administration, having received near-universal acclaim for victory over Iraq in the Gulf War, had stumbled into that conflict in the first place through diplomatic blunders that emboldened Saddam Hussein.
2 - "As Democrat [Eric] Holder moved up the ladder at [Clinton-Reno] Justice, so too did his friend Mueller, and — with strong support from Senator Barbara Boxer - was rewarded with a Clinton appointment as U.S. Attorney in San Francisco."
3 - When Bush the younger arrived, Mueller "spun about and made his bureaucratic expertise known to the knocked about [Attorney General] John Ashcroft." He saw that his old associates in the public integrity section remained secure.
Republican lawmakers are reluctant to publicly criticize their president. But GOP staffers who are up to speed on the thinking inside FBI and Justice Department circles will express their concerns off the record.
'Too Clever'
"This guy's just a little too clever by half," said one, "How can we trust somebody who walks both sides of the street? Didn't we have enough of that with [recently departed FBI Director Louis] Freeh?"
While former FBI directors William Sessions and William Webster were often criticized for naiveté on bureaucratic intrigue, Mueller, as some Washingtonians see it, may have the kind of bureaucratic smarts that are good for him, but not necessarily for the country. On the other hand, another Republican staffer said there was reason to believe that Mueller will be an improvement over Freeh, about whom this source had no enthusiasm.
"You have to remember," he said, "he has the backing of both the president and John Ashcroft. And they're both good guys. If he wants to please them, he'll do the right thing [on privacy]."
Although some may regard that kind of comment as a form of "whistling past the graveyard," rare is the Republican on the Hill ready to go to war over this nomination, at least at this early stage. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., issued a noncommittal statement noting his panel's planned "oversight hearings" on the FBI, and adding it "will be the committee's job to determine if Mr. Mueller is the right person for the job." The committee's ranking Republican and former chairman, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, lauded Bush for his "excellent choice" in picking Mueller.
"I am confident that Mr. Mueller's distinguished history of public service and as a federal prosecutor" will provide "dynamic leadership," the Utah Republican declared.
California's other liberal Democrat senator, Dianne Feinstein, praised the selection of Mueller, Fox News Channel reported Thursday evening.
_______________
Congressional Record: August 2, 2001 (Senate) Page S8680-S8691 robert s. mueller, iii, to be director of the federal bureau of investigation Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I have moved swiftly in the Judiciary Committee to consider and move forward the nomination of Robert S. Mueller, III, to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
His nomination was sent to the Senate on July 18 but his paperwork was not completed until July 24. Less than one week later, we held 2 days of hearings, on July 30 and 31, and made sure that the committee considered his nomination the same week, on August 2, in order to ensure committee and Senate consideration of this important nomination before the August recess. The committee unanimously and favorably reported this nomination. I thank the Democratic and Republican members of the committee for their cooperation and attention in allowing this nomination to move forward on an expedited basis. Mr. Mueller has had an outstanding career in law enforcement, serving as a Federal prosecutor in three different United States Attorneys' Offices and in Main Justice under both Republican and Democratic administrations. As he testified at his confirmation hearing, he has ``either personally prosecuted or supervised the prosecution of just about every type of Federal Criminal offense, including homicide, drug trafficking, organized crime, cyber crime, major frauds, civil rights and environmental crime.´´
Mr. Mueller was the only witness at his hearings. The committee did not call other witnesses we are in the midst of intensive and ongoing FBI oversight hearings. These FBI oversight hearings were an integral part of the committee's preparation to consider the nomination of a new FBI Director, and Mr. Mueller's opening statement at his confirmation hearings specifically addressed significant issues raised in the prior hearings.
At the oversight hearing on June 20, 2001, the committee examined both outside oversight mechanisms and methods to restore confidence in the FBI.
Witnesses included former Senator John C. Danforth, who investigated the events at Waco as Special Counsel to the Attorney General; the Honorable William H. Webster, former FBI and CIA Director, currently heading a review of FBI security in the aftermath of the Hanssen espionage case; Glenn A. Fine, current Inspector General of the Department of Justice; Michael R. Bromwich, former Inspector General of the Department of Justice; and Norman J. Rabkin, Managing Director, Tax Administration and Justice Issues, General Accounting Office.
At the oversight hearing on July 18, 2001, the committee considered the reform of FBI management with views from inside and outside the FBI. Witnesses included Raymond W. Kelly, former New York City Police Commissioner and Commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service; Bob E. Dies, FBI Assistant Director for Information Resources; Kenneth H. Senser, Acting FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Security Programs and Countermeasures; John E. Roberts, Unit Chief, FBI Office of Professional Responsibility; John Werner, former Supervisory Special Agent, FBI Office of Professional Responsibility; Frank L. Perry, Supervisory Senior Resident Agent, Raleigh, North Carolina, and former head of the Office of Law Enforcement Ethics at the FBI
______________
WASHINGTON (CNN) Mueller confirmed as FBI chief
August 2, 2001 Posted: 9:15 PM EDT (0115 GMT)
-- The Senate voted unanimously Thursday to confirm Robert Mueller as FBI director.
The Senate vote was 98-0 to approve Mueller for a 10-year term, the same day the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended his confirmation. The 56-year-old veteran prosecutor was President Bush's pick to lead the bureau. He told the Judiciary Committee during a two-day confirmation hearing that his top priority would be to "restore the public's confidence in the FBI, to re-earn the faith and trust of the American people."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, the Judiciary Committee's chairman, said Mueller should be prepared to "clean house if necessary."
_______________
Mueller assumes the helm of FBI September 5, 2001 Posted: 10:52 AM EDT (1452 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Robert Mueller took charge of the FBI Tuesday, becoming the sixth director of the United States' top law enforcement agency, which has been plagued by a recent series of blunders. Justice Department and FBI officials said Mueller was sworn in during an early-morning, private ceremony in Attorney General John Ashcroft's office across the street from FBI headquarters. Bush nominates Robert Mueller as head of FBI
________________
Washington, July 5 US PRESIDENT George W Bush on Friday nominated Justice Department veteran Robert Mueller as head of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), an administration official said.
His task is to restore prestige of FBI, which has suffered from a string of embarrassments ranging from bungled documents to the discovery of a spy for the Russians in its midst, the official said. The news follows intense speculation about whom Bush would pick to replace Louis Freeh, who announced his resignation on May 1, well in advance of the end of his term set for 2003.
Mueller, who served as acting deputy attorney general from January to May, serves as US Attorney in San Francisco. He had previously headed homicide division of the US Attorney's office here.
If confirmed by the Senate, Mueller gets a ten-year term.
The idea of a government lawyer being "tough as nails" is enough to make a cow laugh. It's almost as funny as the thought of Rudy Giuliani as a "hero". No offense intended, of course.
Please See reply #21 before you continue to defend him with that excuse.
Oh and BTW why did it take a month to swear him into office?
So you think his handling of BCCI was tough?
Please read this from reply #21 by Native American Female Vet :
"Did you know he was Acting Deputy Director of the DOJ from January through May, went home for a month and was then nominated to head the FBI?"
Then please read this article:
FBI Director Nominee Mueller Helped FBI and DOJ Cover Up Evidence on Waco, Ruby Ridge, OKC Bombing
Washington Times, Personal Research by OKCSubmariner | August 1, 2001 | Patrick B. Briley
Link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/690785/posts
I do not agree with the way Bob Mueller has done things in the past. If Bob Mueller had no control over the matters that led to 9/11/01, then Bob Mueller should still come forward and tell COngress what he knows went wrong (even if it means telling anything relevant about Ashcroft, the FBI, the CIA or even Bush and Clinton so the problems can be corrected quickly before we have another terror attack.
Mueller should put the welfare of the country ahead of his personal career, ahead of the FBI, the CIA and Bush and CLinton.
If Bob Mueller is tough as nails as you say he is in your reply #12 (and as you say you are), does he have the moral courage to now do the right thing and see it through for the good of the country? I pray that he will.
But the last prominent man in government I heard who boasted he was tough as nails was "Tough Tony Lake", the National Security advisor under Clinton. Anthony Lake may have been tough but Congress was not convinced he was moral enough to be confirmed as DCIA. And Lake is suspeced of aiding the wrong Islamic types as well as the wrong Chinese.
Men like Mueller can be forgiven if they repent and make amends. But if they continue to cover even for things they did not do but know about, they will get caught up in the web of deceit and go down hard. He can chose to either be a goat or a hero. The chioce is really simple if he really believes that any wrong doers will not get away with it in the end.
God sees and knows everything from Heaven. He is forgiving for the humble but hard on the arrogant and haughty. God abhors perjury but rewards and forgives a contrite heart.
The left is in a current state of demanding a pound of flesh for the mess they created with their post Vietnam fear of intelligence and the military. They'd like nothing better than Ashcroft and Muellers head on a platter and they won't suffer for useful idiots to back them in their quest.
Can you tell us in which publication the article appeared? Or was it an AP or newswire story? Who does the author Toby Harnden work for?
LOL, you're either drunk, an idiot or using Nurse Ratchets computer while she's in the loo.
I'm telling you what the cause of the 9/11 attacks was, your concern is with hanging whoever you can hang. Your not part of the solution dudette, you're part of the problem.
In my opinion, Mrs. Rowley's use of the term "I believe" is totally understandable considering that she's putting her 20 year career on the line by questioning her ultimate boss. If you read the memo without the words "I believe" and assume that everything that she said in it was fact, it's pretty damning.
So perhaps you want to be skeptical. That's fine. But I've got 50 years experience with dealing with "bureaucracies" and "bureaucrats", and "I believe" that she's hit the target.
Have a nice day
Never mind, hurry up and get a front row seat at the lynching.
And you ahve a nice day as well.
All the Clinton holdovers should have been run out of town and should NOT still be working within the government or PROMOTED as some have.
This whole "we knew nothing" that went to "we didnt connect the dots" to now "we may have messed up a little" and excuse after excuse from people like Mueller would be unacceptable if this was the Clinton Admin...oops part of it still is.
You may not want to hold anyone accountable and play right into the governments game...others wont, so get use to it. At least you cant blame us for your being blind to the facts.
You couldn't be more wrong. I have been advocating for the accounts to be paid up by those responsible since before I ever got to FR and have continued to do so in the years that I've been here.
The people responsible for killing Americans are the radical Muslims and their nests are in the Middle East. Dead radical Muslims, like dead murderers, can never again kill the innocent.
The FBI and the CIA need revamping for sure but not because of Mueller or Ashcroft. Ashcroft while in the Senate always voted to strengthen our security agencies. Mueller seems to be moving the FBI's in the right direction.
If I'm not mistaken, you were up in arms about the Patriot Act. Am I wrong?
You are too kind. From the Rowley letter:
In the day or two following September 11th, you, Director Mueller, made the statement to the effect that if the FBI had only had any advance warning of the attacks, we (meaning the FBI), may have been able to take some action to prevent the tragedy. Fearing that this statement could easily come back to haunt the FBI upon revelation of the information that had been developed pre-September 11th about Moussaoui, I and others in the Minneapolis Office, immediately sought to reach your office through an assortment of higher level FBIHQ contacts, in order to quickly make you aware of the background of the Moussaoui investigation and forewarn you so that your public statements could be accordingly modified. When such statements from you and other FBI officials continued, we thought that somehow you had not received the message and we made further efforts. Finally when similar comments were made weeks later, in Assistant Director Caruso's congressional testimony in response to the first public leaks about Moussaoui we faced the sad realization that the remarks indicated someone, possibly with your approval, had decided to circle the wagons at FBIHQ in an apparent effort to protect the FBI from embarrassment and the relevant FBI officials from scrutiny. Everything I have seen and heard about the FBI's official stance and the FBI's internal preparations in anticipation of further congressional inquiry, had, unfortunately, confirmed my worst suspicions in this regard.
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