Obama appoints former IG to head Minerals Management Service

Obama's choice, Michael R. Bromwich, currently is a partner in the law firm Fried Frank, heading its internal investigations, compliance and monitoring practice. Before joining the firm, Bromwich was inspector general at the Justice Department from 1994 to 1999. The probes he conducted there included special investigations of allegations of misconduct at the FBI's crime lab and into its activities surrounding the case of convicted spy Aldrich Ames.

Before serving as IG, Bromwich was a federal prosecutor in New York.

The previous MMS director, S. Elizabeth Birnbaum, resigned her position in late May amid criticism of the agency's oversight efforts.

The White House said Bromwich's appointment would "accelerate reforms in the regulation and oversight of offshore oil drilling."

"For a decade or more, the cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency was allowed to go unchecked," Obama said in a statement. "That allowed drilling permits to be issued in exchange not for safety plans, but assurances of safety from oil companies. That cannot and will not happen anymore."

The Project on Government Oversight, which had pushed the White House to look beyond the oil industry and MMS itself in its search for a new leader for the agency, praised Bromwich's appointment.

"It's encouraging to see the Obama administration select someone with an investigative background to head up the agency," POGO said in a blog post on its website.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had previously announced that MMs would be split into three divisions, in a move aimed at improving oversight of offshore drilling activities.