Before Robert S. Mueller III led the FBI in the 9\/11 era or investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election as special counsel, the U.S. Marine and Vietnam veteran tried his hand working as a lawyer in the private sector.<\/p>\n
Mueller took a job at a prestigious, high-paying law firm in the 1990s \u2014 and he hated it. So he quit, taking a substantial pay cut to become a line prosecutor working homicide in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis great joy was putting away bad guys and answering his phone, \u2018Mueller, Homicide,\u2019\u201d Marc Fisher, then of The Washington Post, said in FRONTLINE\u2019s 2019 documentary The Mueller Investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBob Mueller cares about one thing, and one thing only: indicting bad guys and putting them in prison,\u201d Michael Isikoff<\/a>, then of Yahoo! News, said in the film.<\/p>\n In light of Mueller\u2019s recent death at age 81, The Mueller Investigation<\/a> and FRONTLINE\u2019s other reporting involving Mueller offer insights into his legacy and his long career in public service \u2014 from his time running the FBI under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, to the probe of Russian election interference that put him on a collision course with President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n Sworn in as FBI director a week before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Mueller went on to revamp the agency with a focus on counterterrorism. In a 2003 interview with FRONTLINE<\/a>, he spoke about his approach and why he saw the Patriot Act as an important tool despite criticism that it could increase the potential for civil liberties abuses.<\/p>\n \u201cIn order for us to be effective in this day and age where the globe has gotten smaller, where terrorists can move effectively across borders, we have to effectively exchange information with the intelligence counterparts who have the principal mission of developing intelligence overseas,\u201d Mueller said in the interview.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FBI\u2019s principal priority right now is protecting the United States against another terrorist attack,\u201d Mueller said.<\/p>\n But Mueller also grew concerned that a controversial NSA surveillance program was violating constitutional protections against illegal search and seizures, and threatened to quit<\/a> over it in 2004 \u2014 a scene recounted in the 2014 FRONTLINE film, United States of Secrets<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Mueller was credited with modernizing the FBI, some of the agency\u2019s terror investigations were also criticized for overreaching, including the prosecution at the heart of the 2021 FRONTLINE documentary In the Shadow of 9\/11<\/a>.<\/p>\n Years later, the Department of Justice would appoint Mueller as special counsel to lead the investigation that became central to President Trump\u2019s first term, and that Trump continually described as a \u201cwitch hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump adviser Steve Bannon told FRONTLINE in The Mueller Investigation, \u201cHe was announced as special counsel, and I just go, \u2018Oh my God. This is going to be a grind, because this is a guy that doesn\u2019t leave any stone unturned.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n