Kelly, New York City police commissioner, is as familiar as anyone about the threat that hangs over this country. As Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said, "When you catch a terrorist and look at the map in his or her pocket, it is always a map of New York. Not a map of some other place." Kelly has served for decades on the police force and would be a strong candidate, but he has turned the job down before, and probably will again.
Evan Agostini / AP Photo
Bratton, former Los Angeles police chief and another potential candidate, knows his own city well and would have the same kind of focus in pursuing potential terrorists; he could be the next best thing to Kelly.
Philip Scott Andrews / AP Photo
As a former prosecutor and deputy attorney general under George W. Bush, Comey is likely to do well in one respect: "Someone who goes to a confirmation hearing is going to have to show that they are going to be more aggressive," says counterterrorism expert Juan Zarate.
Susan Walsh / AP Photo
Harman, a former congresswoman who served on the Homeland Security Committee (her husband, Sidney Harman, is executive chairman of Newsweek and The Daily Beast), may be "very prominent and very respected," as one counterterrorism expert describes her, but she is also headed for a cushy post as president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center.
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Townsend served as Bush’s homeland security adviser and wins high praise from people who have worked at the FBI. "She is very sharp, articulate," says one former official. (She is also charming on the phone, even when she turns you down.) Still, having served in a Republican administration with a controversial record on anti-terror tactics, Townsend is a long shot.
Evan Vucci / AP Photo
Another possibility, Noble, secretary general of Interpol, is "a political animal" and "beloved" at the international police organization, says ex-CIA official Marc Sageman, which would make it easier for him to win Senate support. Interpol is based in Lyon, France, though, and Noble may seem out of touch with domestic law-enforcement issues.
Thierry Charlier / AP Photo
Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago who is known for his prosecution of Scooter Libby and Rod Blagojevich, is another contender.
Kiichiro Sato / AP Photo
Garcia has served as U.S. attorney in Manhattan. As the prosecutor of four individuals accused of conspiring with Osama bin Laden in the 1998 bombing of embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, he certainly knows about terrorism.
Julie Jacobson / AP Photo
