By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis – During a visit to St. Louis Wednesday, FBI director Robert Mueller defended the USA Patriot Act, the federal provision enacted shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Mueller said the act broke down a wall between the law enforcement and intelligence communities that prevented each from sharing information prior to the attacks.
Mueller said technology has made the world smaller in recent years, and terrorists use national borders to advance their agendas.
"And the information picked up by a foreign intelligence entity may well bear on a threat to the internal United States in ways where it could not be said that that would happen 10 years ago," Mueller said. "And what the Patriot Act does is allows us to share that information to prevent future terrorist attacks."
Mueller also said the capture of former Iraqi director Saddam Hussein, is a "devastating blow" to anyone who would plan terrorist attacks throughout the world.