President Barack Obama is planning to nominate former deputy attorney general John B. Comey - active during President George W. Bush's administration - as the new director of the FBI taking the place of Robert Mueller, according to reports.
In what some are calling a statement in bipartisanship, Obama reportedly met with Comey, 52, in early May to discuss the job, and then again shortly after.
Comey was chosen over former White House top counterterrorism adviser Lisa O. Monaco, and served as a senior official in the Justice Department for two years.
In 2004, Comey made a name for himself defending law over politics during a dramatic deadlock with White House counsel, Alberto R. Gonzalez, and chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr. when they made every effort to convince the then sick Attorney General John Ashcroft to reapprove the Bush administration's spy program.
Read the resignation letter that was never sent to the president, but demonstrated his anger over the whole thing:
Draft Resignation Letter, James B. Comey
In previous reports, officials "familiar [with the program] said the N.S.A. [was] eavesdropping without warrants on up to 500 people in the United States at any given time. The list [changed] as some names are added and other dropped, so the number monitored... may have reached into the thousands."
Administration officials told the New York Times that the program was implemented to give authorities insight on "threats to this country."
"Defenders of the program say it [was a] critical tool in helping disrupt terrorist plots and prevent attacks inside the United States," according to reports.
Later, the White House asked the New York Times not to print their statements or the investigation arguing that the sharing of such information would jeopardize their efforts and put American civil liberties in danger.
In 2007 Comey met with Congress and said that Ashcroft was approached inappropriately as he was weak and could not understand the breadth of the situation.
"I was angry," he said in his statement. "I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they have been transferred to me."
It's not yet clear when President Obama will make his official announcement.
