By IANS,
New York : US President Barack Obama has asked the Congress to pass legislation that would extend the 10-year term of Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), by two years, said the White House in a statement Thursday.
Mueller’s present tenure is scheduled to come to its end Sept. 4. He took office a week before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“In his 10 years at the F.B.I., Bob Mueller has set the gold standard for leading the bureau,” The New York Times quoted Obama in a statement as saying.
“Given the ongoing threats facing the US, as well as the leadership transitions at other agencies like the Defence Department and Central Intelligence Agency, I believe continuity and stability at the F.B.I. is critical at this time.”
The announcement has come after Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. began conducting a high-level search for a replacement.
F.B.I. directors are limited by law to a single 10-year term.
While a two-year extension would keep Mueller in place past the 2012 election, White House press secretary Jay Carney said, considerations of presidential politics were not a factor in setting two years as the length of the extension.