Signalling a strong bipartisan commitment, President Barack Obama proposes to nominate James B Comey, a senior official with the predecessor Bush administration, as the next director of the country’s premier investigating agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which boasts of 36,000 staffers, including 14,000 agents.
In a sense, Obama will be continuing the bipartisan spirit on this top-notch appointment, given than the outgoing FBI chief, Robert S Mueller, has also been a Bush appointee. Mueller is due to retire in September after 12 years at the helm.
While there was no immediate White House comment on the nomination of Comey, a former hedge fund executive who served as President George W Bush’s No 2 official in the Department of Justice, his reported selection was reported first by NPR and then by other media outlets, citing people familiar with the decision.
A couple of months ago, there had been considerable media speculation that the US might get its first female FBI chief with Obama possibly nominating his top counter-terrorism adviser lisa O. Monaco for the job.
“By choosing Comey, a Republican, Obama made a strong statement about bipartisanship at a time when he faces renewed criticism from Republicans in Congress and has had difficulty winning confirmation of some important nominees,” the New York Times noted. Interestingly enough, Comey had endeared himself to the Democrats during his earlier stint when he refused to go with the Bush aides in 2007 over reauthorizing a programme for eavesdropping without warrants.
The FBI directors now have a 10-year term limit, a far cry from the days of the legendary J. Edgar Hoover, who had served as FBI chief for close to 40 years. The tenure of Mueller, the outgoing chief, had ended in 2011, but President Obama had prevailed on the Senate to extend it by two years.
Under Mueller, the FBI witnessed enormous transformation, triggered by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.