Proposed CIA chief would consolidate military control over intelligence agencies

The Bush administration was warned that it risked provoking a new crisis over intelligence if the president appointed a controversial general to head the CIA. On May 8, President Bush nominated General Michael Hayden as head of the intelligence agency, three days after the abrupt departure of the agency's director, Porter Goss. The choice of a career military officer to lead the CIA was criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike for concentrating control of intelligence in the Pentagon. If Hayden is confirmed, the military will consolidate its control over intelligence operations with military officers running the major spy agencies, from the ultra-secret National Security Agency (NSA) to the Defense Intelligence Agency. Hayden's appointment would also be controversial because as a former director of the NSA he was the architect of a program to eavesdrop on US telephone calls and emails without court oversight. Hayden also overhauled NSA management and began a multibillion-dollar modernization program, known as Trailblazer, which ran huge cost overruns and was widely considered to be a failure. The latest tumultuous chapter in the recent history of the CIA opened on May 5, when Goss resigned after less than two years in the post. No official reason was given, but his exit was linked to his failure to win the confidence of senior CIA staff and to his bruising bureaucratic power struggles with the national intelligence czar, John Negroponte, who wanted to hive off the CIA's analytical branch. The defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has also been pressing for the Pentagon to take over some of the CIA's work in foreign intelligence. In addition, at least one of Goss's closest aides is under investigation for possible links to a corruption scandal in which members of Congress were plied with bribes and prostitutes in return for defense contracts. A former California Republican congressman, Duke Cunningham, is serving eight years in jail in the widening scandal. Amid this atmosphere of crisis, a leading Republican congressman warned that he feared the CIA would be compromised by putting the agency under the control of a serving military officer. "Putting a general in charge–regardless of how good Mike is–is going to send the wrong signal to the agency in Washington, but also to agents in the field around the world," said Peter Hoekstra, the Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Both Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which must approve Bush's choice of CIA director, have also expressed reservations about expanding the Pentagon's control over intelligence. "You can't have the military control most of the major aspects of intelligence," said Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), a member of the committee. Some critics say Hayden lacks the background in human intelligence that is meant to be the CIA's new focus. The NSA concentrates on signals and satellites intelligence. He also presents a convenient target for critics of the domestic eavesdropping program. Hayden has a reputation for toughness and his public defense of the warrantless surveillance program showed his aggressiveness. Matthew Aid, a historian who is writing a book on the NSA, said: "He can be an SOB if he wants to be." As the battle lines were being drawn on Capitol Hill, there was further speculation in intelligence circles on the circumstances of Goss's departure. In his brief and stormy tenure at the CIA, he was believed to have clashed regularly with Negroponte, the newly created overlord for intelligence. However, some analysts said while they were engaged in a struggle over resources, there were also clashes over the CIA's bleak assessments of Iraq. "Iraq played a much bigger role than people realize," said a former CIA counter-terror expert. "The agency estimates on Baghdad continued to be very pessimistic and continued to alarm the White House." The low morale and exodus of senior officers during the brief and stormy tenure of Goss as head of the CIA masks a bitter power struggle over control of intelligence between the agency and the Pentagon. Rumsfeld is making aggressive moves to expand the Pentagon's role in intelligence-gathering in the US's so-called "war on terror." The Special Operations Command has now assumed the leading role in the activities associated with the "war on terror," and clandestine military teams have been increasingly deployed around the world to gather intelligence and mount operations. The Pentagon now has the authority to deploy teams without informing resident US ambassadors. Jane Harman (R-CA), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that when she travels overseas, she hears concerns from civilian CIA professionals about whether the Defense Department is taking over intelligence operations. She shares those concerns. "They see all these new [defense department] folks running around," said Harman. "There are probably more people in uniform running around the intelligence community than any other time in history." Marc D. Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, said the nomination would be strongly opposed by civil libertarians. "We have to confront the chilling prospect that the incoming head of the CIA believes it's permissible to conduct warrantless surveillance on the American public," Rotenberg said. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she is concerned about Hayden's role in the domestic spying program, but that it should not be the issue in Senate confirmation hearings for the CIA. Having a four-star general leading the spy agency should be the main concern, she said. "These people are all just this little clique, they play musical chairs, they're all far too close to the president politically," Pelosi said. Not all lawmakers were as skeptical about Bush's choice. Notably, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said Hayden is "very highly qualified."