The U.S. Senate confirmed Tuesday the nomination of 1982 College of William and Mary graduate James B. Comey to serve as the next director of the FBI.
Comey had previously served as a U.S. deputy attorney general, where he prosecuted high-profile criminal cases. In September he will replace outgoing director Robert S. Mueller, who spoke at the university’s commencement ceremony in May.
“I make this nomination confident that long after I’ve left office, our nation’s security will be in good hands with public servants like Jim Comey,” said President Barack Obama in a White House press conference.
William and Mary President Taylor Reveley said in a news release that Comey made the school proud.
“President Obama has nominated Mr. Comey to lead an agency whose effectiveness and integrity are vitally important to our country,” Reveley said. “Jim’s willingness to return to public service in this crucial post is quite wonderful.”
Comey graduated from the college with a double major in chemistry and religion. He received an honorary doctor of laws degree during the 2008 Charter Day ceremony. He served as vice president of the William and Mary Association’s Board of Directors.
“I have had the opportunity to work with Jim for a number of years in the Department of Justice, and I have found him to be a man of honesty, dedication and integrity,” Mueller, who became director of the FBI a week before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said at a June 21 press conference.
Comey found himself in the national spotlight in 2004 when he challenged the White House over constitutional concerns related to domestic wiretapping. During that time he also chaired the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force and the Presidential Board on Safeguarding Americans’ Civil Liberties.
