For the first time in a dozen years, a Senate panel hears on Tuesday from a nominee for FBI Director, as a former Justice Department official is likely to be quizzed about government surveillance tactics both past and present.
James Comey comes to this hearing with supporters - and critics - in both parties, as he looks to succeed Robert Mueller, who became FBI Director just one week before the Nine Eleven attacks.
Comey, who was a deputy Attorney General in the Bush Administration, is a heavy favorite to win Senate confirmation in coming weeks, though he seems likely to face questions about surveillance work by the NSA and FBI.
Comey is best known in Washington D.C. circles for a 2004 hospital showdown over the post-Nine Eleven warrantless wiretap program of the Bush Administration, when with the backing of Director Mueller, Comey refused to reauthorize the program as demanded by future Attorney General (then White House Counsel) Alberto Gonzalez and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
Gonzalez and Card had gone to the hospital room of Attorney General John Ashcroft in a bid to get around Comey - who was Acting Attorney General while Ashcroft was being treated for a serious illness.
Notified of the effort by Ashcroft's wife, Comey - with Mueller just a few minutes behind - rushed to the George Washington University hospital to block Card and Gonzalez from getting an ailing Ashcroft to sign off on an extension of the program.
Here was how Comey described it to Senators in riveting detail from 2007:
Ashcroft, Comey and Mueller had all agreed in the days before this hospital showdown that they could no longer support the warrantless wiretapping program, and reportedly threatened to resign en masse.
Fast forward to 2013 and the recent leaks about NSA surveillance - basically the same program which now has a legal support structure - and Comey's nomination comes at an ironic time, as the Obama Administration deals with fallout over the same surveillance work.
In a pair of hearings last month, Mueller steadfastly defended the work of the NSA and FBI, arguing civil liberties concerns were properly addressed, though that has been challenged by some in both parties.
