Robert Mueller — the FBI’s longest-serving director since J. Edgar Hoover — will step down from his post next Wednesday.
Mueller started as director Sept. 4, 2001, exactly one week before the indelible terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, which permanently altered the FBI’s role. In his 12 years as director — extended by Congress past the normal 10-year maximum — Mueller oversaw a significant expansion: 18 new overseas posts and major investments in new information technology. Of the FBI’s 36,000 employees, more than half joined since 2001.
“When I first came on board, I thought I had a fair idea of what to expect,” Mueller said recently during a farewell ceremony at FBI Headquarters. “But the Sept. 11 attacks altered every expectation.”
The bureau changed from a domestic law enforcement-focused agency to a counterintelligence and counterterrorism-focused organization.
Friday, the FBI released a video of Mueller reflecting on his term as FBI director. Check it out below:
