Robert Mueller

The National Football League has hired Mueller to investigate its response to a video showing Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice knocking unconscious his then fiancée (now wife) Janay Palmer in a casino elevator on Feb. 15 and issue a public report.

• CLAIMS TO FAME

A former federal prosecutor and recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart as a Marine in Vietnam, Mueller took over the FBI a week before Sept. 11, 2001, and reorganized the bureau. He threatened to resign over George W. Bush’s warrantless-surveillance program in 2004 and successfully constrained parts of it.

• CURRENT CHALLENGE

Mueller must deliver a credible report on the narrow question of which top NFL officials knew about the video–one that doesn’t look like a bought-and-paid-for cover-up for either commissioner Roger Goodell or the NFL’s broader domestic-abuse problems.

• BIGGEST CHAMPION

“He does what he thinks is necessary to do on the merits,” says former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. “He will pick people who are like-minded.”

• BIGGEST CRITIC

National Organization for Women president Terry O’Neill called Mueller “a quasi-insider” and the probe “window dressing.”

• CAN HE DO IT?

Mueller brings a record of standing on principle and putting public service ahead of his own interests. His biggest challenge may be ensuring the credibility of a team that draws heavily from his law firm, WilmerHale. The firm had an extensive and profitable relationship with the NFL and several of its most powerful figures, including Ravens president Dick Cass, a former Wilmer partner.

–MASSIMO CALABRESI