James Brien Comey (born December 14, 1960) is an American attorney best known for his tenure as the 7^th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. His career includes serving as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2002-2003 and as U.S. Deputy Attorney from 2003–2005.  He left the Department of Justice in 2005 to become senior vice president and general counsel of Lockheed Martin, followed by a similar position at Bridgewater Associates in 2010 before becoming a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia Law School in 2013. He was appointed by Barack Obama to a ten-year term as FBI Director in September, 2013.  He first made headlines in 2006 when he refused to certify the legality of aspects of NSA activities while serving as Acting Attorney General during the hospitalization of Attorney General John Ashcroft. He aroused controversy during the 2016 Presidential Election when he went against department policy by making a public announcement of the Bureau’s decision to end the investigation into the handling of Hilary Clinton’s personal email server without criminal charges while deeming the behavior of her and her top staff “extremely reckless”.  A second announcement about re-opening the investigation following the discovery of her emails on a laptop computer belonging to Anthony Weiner, the husband of her chief of staff, in connection with his criminal investigation, was made two weeks before the election and was considered by many as crucial factor in Ms. Clinton’s loss. His book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, was published in April 2018.