AFP: Obama to Tap Jim Comey as New FBI Chief
President Barack Obama will formally nominate a former senior Bush administration official Friday to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the White House said.
Jim Comey, a deputy attorney general under George W. Bush, would replace Robert Mueller, who is stepping down from the agency he has led since the week before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The White House hailed Comey as “one of our nation’s most skilled and respected national security and law enforcement professionals.”
“In more than two decades as a prosecutor and national security professional, Jim has demonstrated unwavering toughness, integrity and principle in defending both our security and our values,” it said.
Comey, 52, played a key role in counterterrorism debates during the Bush years, refusing in 2004 to vouch for the legal aspects of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance.