WASHINGTON  The Obama administration’s nominee to lead intelligence efforts at the Department of Homeland Security withdrew Friday after it became clear that lawmakers would raise questions about his role in the Bush administration’s interrogation programs.

Philip Mudd, who has 24 years of intelligence experience, said in a letter to the White House that he worried that his nomination could become a “distraction” from President Obama’s agenda.

Mr. Mudd is now a deputy in Federal Bureau of Investigation’s counterterrorism unit. Before that, he was deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Counterterrorism Center. It was in the latter post that legislators believed Mr. Mudd became deeply involved with the government’s enhanced interrogation efforts, including the use of the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding.