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Mr. Brennan's nomination will be announced at 1 p.m. along with that of Chuck Hagel, the former maverick Republican senator from Nebraska, who the president has chosen for secretary of defense, said the spokesman, Thomas Vietor.

In Mr. Obama's first term, Mr. Brennan, 57, has played a central role in the oversight of Mr. Obama's use of targeted killing of suspected terrorists using drones in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. He has become one of the president's most trusted advisers, and administration officials had said that the C.I.A. job was his for the asking.

The president had considered naming Mr. Brennan to head the C.I.A. when he took office in 2009. But some human rights advocates protested, claiming that as a top agency official under President George W. Bush Mr. Brennan had supported, or at least failed to stop, the use of interrogation techniques like waterboarding that are widely considered to be torture.

Mr. Brennan denied those accusations but withdrew from consideration, and Mr. Obama gave him the advisory position, which did not require Senate confirmation.

It is uncertain whether the torture issue will now cause any problems for Mr. Brennan. But he is a far more well-known figure than in 2009, having made many public appearances in the wake of terrorist plots and to explain the legal and policy arguments behind drone strikes.