President Barack Obama installed James Comey as the seventh director of the FBI on Monday at a swearing-in ceremony in Washington, The Associated Press reported.

"I interviewed a number of extraordinary candidates for this job, all with sterling credentials," Obama said.

"But what gave me confidence that this was the right man for the job wasn't [with] his degrees, [nor] his resume, it was -talking to him. [Comey is] somebody who knows what's right and what's wrong, and is willing to act on that basis every single day," the president added.

Comey is a former Bush administration who "refused to go along with White House demands on warrant-less wiretapping nearly a decade ago," The AP also reported.

Comey had told more than 3,000 FBI employees and guests that the bureau "must be independent of all political forces and interests," The Washington Post reported. Comey replaces Robert Mueller, who resigned after 12 years as agency director.

"We have been hugely successful against core al Qaeda, but I see the threat metastasizing, both the threat of al Qaeda associate groups around the world ... and the threat of what we call homegrown violent extremists," Comey told reporters in late September.

In addition to dismantling terror cells, the FBI has said it will continue spending considerable time with tackling domestic issues, like holding white-collar criminals to task for their wrongdoings.