By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent 5 minutes ago
"If Hayden were confirmed, military officers would run all the major spy agencies, from the ultra-secret National Security Agency to the Defense Intelligence Agency."
President Bush chooses Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to lead the embattled CIA on Monday despite criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike about a military officer taking over the helm of the civilian spy agency.
"Mike Hayden is extremely qualified for this position," Bush said in the Oval Office, with Hayden at his side. "He knows the intelligence community from the ground up."
Appearing with the president and Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte in the Oval Office Monday, Hayden said, "there's probably no post more important in preserving our security and our values as people than the CIA."
Earlier Monday, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley defended the decision to tap a military officer to head the CIA.
"He'll be reporting to the president of the United States, not Don Rumsfeld," the secretary of defense, said Hadley. Other military officers have led the CIA, Hadley said. "So the precedents are clear."
To balance the CIA between military and civilian leadership, the White House plans to move aside the agency's No. 2 official, Vice Admiral Albert Calland III, who took over as deputy director less than a year ago, two senior administration officials said. Other personnel changes also are likely, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the changes are not ready to announce.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra (news, bio, voting record), R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he was concerned that Hayden's nomination would detract from the real issue of intelligence reform.
"The debate in the Senate may end up being about the terrorist surveillance program and not about the future of the CIA or the intelligence community, which is exactly where the debate needs to be," Hoekstra said on CBS' "The Early Show."
"This is about whether we still have alignment and agreement between the executive branch and Congress as to where intelligence reform needs to go," he said.
Hadley made the rounds of morning television shows to defend Hayden's selection. "We think the issue is getting the best man for the job and the president has determined that Mike Hayden is the best man for the job," Hadley told The Associated Press.
White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Hayden would be the fifth CIA chief in uniform. "He has been viewed as a non-comformist and an independent thinker," Bartlett said.
Hadley said that any nominee to lead the CIA would face questions about the controversial domestic surveillance program by the National Security Agency and that Hayden, the former director of the agency, was the best man to answer those questions.
If Hayden were confirmed, military officers would run all the major spy agencies, from the ultra-secret National Security Agency to the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Hoekstra's sentiment was echoed by Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss (news, bio, voting record) of Georgia, who said that Hayden's military background would be a "major problem," and several Democrats who made the rounds of the Sunday television talk shows. Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), D-Del., said Hayden could leave agents with the impression that the CIA has been "just gobbled up by the Defense Department."
Some lawmakers, like Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record) of California, suggested that he might think about resigning his military post if he were going to head the CIA. But Hoekstra and Chambliss were among those who said that wouldn't solve the problem.
"Just resigning commission and moving on, putting on a striped suit, a pinstriped suit versus an Air Force uniform, I don't think makes much difference," Chambliss said on ABC's "This Week."
Talk of Hayden's possible nomination has reignited the debate over the Bush's administration's domestic surveillance program, which Hayden used to oversee as the former head of the National Security Agency.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he would use a Hayden nomination to raise questions about the legality of the program and did not rule out holding it up until he gets answers. "I'm not going to draw any lines in the sand until I see how the facts evolve," Specter said on Fox.
Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., defended Hayden.
"In all due respect to my colleagues — and I obviously respect their views — General Hayden is really more of an intelligence person than he is an Air Force officer," McCain said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. "I think that we should also remember that there had been other former military people who have been directors of the CIA."
Retired Adm. Stansfield Turner, who headed the CIA during the Carter administration, said he did not think Hayden was a good choice.
"I happen to think not because I happen to think the wiretapping was illegal and we need to clarify that for the whole American public, and the debate of his nomination will do that, I believe," Turner said on CBS' "The Early Show."
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