It's because we need to determine who in this country is poised, positioned to commit terrorist acts.

The FBI's principal priority right now is protecting the United States against another terrorist attack.

No one has ever been able to convince me that optimism is not preferable to pessimism.

In the context of September 11, there were so many that lost their lives that - how do you single out one person? There were so many acts of heroism that day from so many people, whether it be firemen and police officers in New York and our agents also.

In planning an attack, persons have various roles.

We had to address information technology in the ways we had not before and give the agents the tools that they need to do their job more efficiently and more expeditiously.

So without getting into the specifics, I can tell you that to the extent that investigation is a relatively important investigation and meaningful, the president would have been periodically briefed.