Obama Wants FBI Chief to Stick Around

Posted on May 12, 2011

fbi.gov

He’s been in charge since just before the 9/11 attacks, and if President Obama gets his way, FBI Director Robert Mueller will stay at his post for another two years—an unusual move aimed at keeping some aspects of Obama’s intelligence and security strategy consistent.

AP via USA Today:

Obama, in a statement, asked lawmakers to go along with his idea “for the sake of our nation’s safety and security.” A top Republican quickly warned that Obama’s move could set a “risky precedent.”

The news comes as a surprise for an administration that had been seriously vetting candidates to replace Mueller, whose term is set to expire on Sept. 4 under a law that caps the service of FBI directors at 10 years.

Mueller was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush and began just a week before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks of 2001. Well regarded by Republicans and Democrats, Mueller is known for transforming a crime-fighting agency into the front line of defense against terrorism.

Read more

More Below the Ad

New and Improved Comments

We are launching a major overhaul of our comments section.

In addition to more robust spam filtering and moderation, new features include the ability to rate other comments, sort how they are displayed and respond directly via e-mail or in a thread.

Unfortunately, commenters will lose their existing Truthdig identities. It's a pain, we know, but on the plus side you will now be able to log in with a plethora of options, including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus accounts.

Before launching this system we spent months in discussion with our top commenters. We listened to the feedback and we hope you like what we've come up with.

Please direct any problems or concerns to us via our contact page.