Republicans Fault a
Top Pick to Lead the C.I.A.
By MARK MAZZETTI and
SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, NYTimes from the Web, May 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 7 — Senior
Republican lawmakers on Sunday criticized the probable choice of Gen. Michael V.
Hayden to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, voicing concerns about his ties
to a controversial eavesdropping program and about the wisdom of installing a
military officer at the civilian spy agency.
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Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Gen.
Michael V. Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency,
during a speech in January. |
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In a possible preview of the
difficulties that would await General Hayden on Capitol Hill, several
Republicans, including some with close ties to the White House, said President
Bush should find someone else to run the embattled agency.
"I do believe he is the wrong person, the wrong place, at the wrong time,"
Representative Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican and chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday."
"We should not have a military person leading a civilian agency at this time,"
Mr. Hoekstra said.
Several military officers have led the C.I.A., but Mr. Hoekstra said it would be
wrong to install one when the agency was fending off efforts by the Pentagon to
expand its own spying operations.
Mr. Hoekstra would not directly participate in a debate over General Hayden,
because the Senate, not the House, is responsible for confirming the president's
nominee.
None of the Republican or Democratic lawmakers who appeared on television on
Sunday or who were interviewed separately said directly that they would vote
against General Hayden's nomination. He would replace Porter J. Goss, who
was forced to resign Friday after repeatedly clashing with John D. Negroponte,
the director of national intelligence, over the C.I.A.'s loss of status as the
nation's premier spy agency.
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Freddie Lee/Fox News, via Getty Images
Representative Peter Hoekstra, a Republican, said that a military
person should not lead the C.I.A. |
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But Mr. Hoekstra's remarks, coupled
with similar sentiments expressed by leading Senate Republicans, including Pat
Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, suggest that the
general might not have an easy ride toward confirmation.
Members of that committee, which will conduct the confirmation hearings, are
likely to ask sharp questions, particularly about Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld's drive to expand intelligence operations at the Pentagon. By
doing that, they could express the concerns of intelligence officials who are
constrained by their jobs from speaking out.
The nomination of General Hayden, which is expected to be formally announced by
President Bush on Monday, will also almost certainly revive the controversy
surrounding the domestic eavesdropping program at the National Security Agency,
which he once oversaw.
Critics of the program, including Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania
Republican and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, may try to use the
nomination to force the White House to provide more information about it.
Some top Republicans, like Senator John McCain of Arizona, praised the choice of
General Hayden on Sunday. But others, including two members of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, echoed Mr. Hoekstra.
Senator Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican and White House ally, said that
even if General Hayden were to resign his military commission, he would still
face problems being accepted at the spy agency.
"Just resigning commission and moving on, putting on a pin-striped suit versus
an Air Force uniform, I don't think makes much difference," Mr. Chambliss said
on "This Week" on ABC.
Senator Roberts, of Kansas, praised General Hayden's background but acknowledged
that there is "real concern" about a military officer leading the agency.
"I'm not in a position to say that I am for General Hayden and will vote for
him," Mr. Roberts said on "Late Edition" on CNN.
One senior administration official, who was granted anonymity because the
nomination had not been announced, said it had yet to be determined whether
General Hayden would retire from the Air Force.
At the same time, the official echoed Mr. Chambliss's view that the decision was
unlikely to affect how General Hayden, now a deputy to Mr. Negroponte, would be
received at the agency.
If General Hayden does not retire and earns confirmation, military officers
would be in charge of all of the major spy agencies, including the National
Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
The choice of General Hayden to lead the C.I.A. means that another military
officer, Vice Adm. Albert M. Calland III, now the agency's deputy director,
would probably step down, current and former intelligence officials said.
The officials said Admiral Calland's successor was likely to be a veteran of the
Directorate of Operations, the agency's clandestine service. General
Hayden's background is in satellite intelligence, not human spying, and the
officials said it would make sense to install a former clandestine officer as
his deputy.
Election-year politics will undoubtedly play a part in the confirmation process.
With President Bush's low approval ratings, Republicans may try to distance
themselves from the White House and demonstrate their independence by subjecting
General Hayden to tougher questioning than past nominees.
Democrats, for their part, will try to use the hearings, which have not been
scheduled and will be held in open and closed sessions, to emphasize what they
regard as failed intelligence policies.
One Democrat, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, vowed in an interview that General
Hayden would not "get a pass" on the eavesdropping issue. He said he
intended to use the hearings to try to force the release of a report by the
C.I.A. inspector general on the agency's performance before the Sept. 11
attacks.
"These hearings on Hayden are going to be some of the most important that have
been held in a long time, because the Congress has been kept in the dark on a
handful of issues," said Mr. Wyden, who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"He cannot expect to come to the witness table before our committee and repeat
the empty statements the administration has made" about the N.S.A. program, Mr.
Wyden said.
Senator Specter, who has spoken out repeatedly against the domestic surveillance
program, said he was considering whether to call General Hayden as a witness
during a future round of hearings about it.
"I'm going to give some consideration to whether we might be able to bring him
before the Judiciary Committee, but it would not be the customary practice," Mr.
Specter said in an interview.
Because the committee does not have jurisdiction over General Hayden's
confirmation, Mr. Specter said, summoning him as a witness could create
difficulty because nominees are typically loath to speak in public outside of
their confirmation hearings. "That would require his willingness to come
forward, and the administration's willingness to come forward," Mr. Specter
said.
The senior Bush administration official said the White House welcomed a public
discussion about the N.S.A. program during General Hayden's confirmation
hearings.
"We are very comfortable having a debate on that issue," the official said.
"We feel that there is no more qualified person to defend this program."
David E. Sanger contributed reporting for this article.
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