WASHINGTON: James Comey, the former Deputy US Attorney General under President George W. Bush, has sailed through a confirmation vote in the US Senate to become the next head of the FBI.
Comey, 52, will replace Robert Mueller, who has been the head of the bureau since just before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Though a Republican, Comey was able to garner bipartisan support during his brief period as acting attorney general, for refusing to sanction a Bush-era government surveillance initiative in 2004, which may partly account for Monday’s 93-1 Senate vote.
At his Senate confirmation hearing this month, Comey testified that he believes the use of waterboarding as an “enhanced” interrogation technique is torture, and thus illegal.
Comey left the Justice Department in 2005, and served as general counsel to defense contractor giant Lockheed Martin until 2010.
In response to questions asked during the confirmation hearings regarding recently revealed NSA surveillance programs, Comey stated that in general terms, such intelligence is a “valuable tool in counterterrorism.”
