FBI agent who interrogated Saddam Hussein leads airport case

(AP) — The FBI agent who interrogated Saddam Hussein alone for months after the former Iraqi leader's capture is now leading the investigation into the Florida airport shooting rampage that killed five and is being blamed on an Iraq war veteran.

After Iraq, Piro moved on to top FBI counterterrorism jobs in Washington, including a White House position involving high-value detainee interrogation that works with various intelligence agencies.

Since taking the top Miami FBI job, Piro has overseen work in more domestic areas such as health care fraud, identity theft and tax fraud, Ponzi schemes and mortgage fraud — all areas where South Florida is among the nation's leaders.

Bank robberies, violent street gangs, public corruption and smuggling of humans and drugs round out much of the work for the Miami office's roughly 1,000 agents and employees.

Since Friday's shooting, Piro has been careful to say no evidence linking Santiago to terrorism has been found but such connections have also not been ruled out.