President Barack Obama plans to nominate James Comey, a former hedge fund executive who served as No. 2 in Justice Department under President George W Bush, to replace Robert Mueller as FBI director.
Comey, 52, was at the center of some of the most bruising debates over counterterrorism during the Bush administration and established a reputation as a fierce defender of the law and the integrity of the Justice Department regardless of the political pressures of the moment, the Washington Post said in a report.
The expected nomination of Comey, a Republican, was seen in some quarters as a bipartisan move by a president besieged by Republicans in Congress.
However, Chuck Hagel's prior service as a Republican senator from Nebraska did not spare him from his nomination battle for secretary of defence.
Mueller has served 12 years as FBI director, a period of enormous transformation for the bureau in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the report said.
The director's term is limited by law to 10 years, but Congress unanimously approved Obama's request in 2011 that Mueller be granted another two years.
The report said that the White House had narrowed the search in recent days to Comey and Lisa Monaco, a former assistant attorney general for national security who became Obama's chief counterterrorism advisor this year.
The role of FBI is critical to country security aspect and had come under the scanner over the recent Boston Marathon bombings.
