Former FBI agent: Here's who Trump should pick as the next FBI director

A former FBI agent with more than two decades of service to the bureau told Business Insider in a recent interview who they believed would be a great choice to be the bureau's next director: Fran Townsend, the former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush.

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The ex-agent, who spoke on background to provide their candid thoughts on the fallout after President Donald Trump's bombshell firing of FBI Director James Comey last week, said Townsend would cross off a lot of boxes for Trump.

First, the former agent said Townsend is very well-liked and well-respected by "those that are in the know" from her time working in both the Bush administration and President Bill Clinton's Department of Justice, adding that they're unaware of any "real negatives" she'd bring to the job. She has a breadth of experience involving national security issues, the ex-agent said, and it would also "be the smart pick" for Trump to nominate a woman to the post.

Townsend's name has begun to appear in other media reports as well. NBC reported Saturday that Townsend is being interviewed for the opening, and ABC reported that she was spotted at the White House on Tuesday, just before Comey was fired.

Townsend, who has recently worked as a national security analyst for CBS and, prior to that, CNN, worked as a federal prosecutor in New York and as leader of the DOJ's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review prior to taking a job in the Bush administration.