Nomination of William Steele Sessions To Be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

The President today announced his intention to nominate Judge William Steele Sessions to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice. He would succeed William Webster.

Judge Sessions has been sitting on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas since 1974 and has served as Chief Judge of that Court since 1980. Prior to his appointment to the District Court, Judge Sessions served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas from 1971 to 1974. From 1969 to 1971, he was Chief of the Government Operations Section of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, DC. From 1959 to 1969, he was in private law practice; he was a partner in the firm of Haley, Fulbright, Winniford, Sessions & Bice in Waco, TX, from 1965 to 1969.

Judge Sessions received his J.D. from Baylor University in 1958 and his B.A. from Baylor in 1956. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1955. Judge Sessions is married and has four children. He was born May 27, 1930, in Fort Smith, AR.