So whaddya think? Is the Senate gonna confirm him as easily as everyone else? I mean this guy has SKETCHY AS FUCK history with the FBI and CIA already, between his involvement in Honduras and the whole Iran-Contra hullabaloo.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=7664262
Negroponte Named as New U.S. Intelligence Chief
Thu Feb 17, 2005 12:36 PM ET
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Thursday named John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, to the new post of director of national intelligence, created to integrate America's diverse intelligence services after major failures before the Sept. 11 attacks and the Iraq war.
Announcing the surprise nomination, Bush gave strong personal support to Negroponte, who will have to curb bureaucratic infighting and organize closer cooperation between the Pentagon, CIA and other agencies.
"If we're going to stop the terrorists before they strike, we must ensure that our intelligence agencies work as a single, unified enterprise," Bush said at a news conference.
Negroponte, 65, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has been ambassador to Baghdad for less than a year, prodding the country toward democracy in the teeth of a bloody insurgency prompted by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Creating the new position was a central recommendation of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks last year.
"I appreciate your confidence in choosing me for what will no doubt be the most challenging assignment I have undertaken in more than 40 years of government service," Negroponte said as he stood at Bush's side.
Bush picked National Security Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden as Negroponte's deputy, putting together a team that will oversee the 15 U.S. intelligence agencies.
The new intelligence chief will give Bush his daily intelligence, a job previously done by the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Negroponte's appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, called the two nominations "outstanding choices" and said confirmation hearings would begin as soon as Negroponte finished his job in Iraq.
The new job was created as part of the biggest overhaul of the U.S. intelligence system in a half century.
Some intelligence experts said the White House had been having trouble finding the right candidate for the job, suggesting it was too ill-defined and would take all the blame for any intelligence failures. Robert Gates, CIA director under former President Bush, publicly turned it down.
STRUGGLES AHEAD
The new director could face struggles similar to those confronted by the Department of Homeland Security, also created in response to the Sept. 11 attacks and which has struggled to combine a number of different government agencies.
Bush made clear that he expected the new intelligence chief to have power over the sometimes competing spy agencies and would have authority to order the collection of new intelligence and ensure information-sharing.
"It will be John's responsibility to determine the annual budgets for all national intelligence agencies and offices and to direct how these funds are spent," Bush said.
"Vesting these in a single official who reports directly to me will make our intelligence efforts better coordinated, more efficient and more effective," he said.
Bush also defined how he saw the new intelligence chief interacting with the CIA and the Pentagon.
The director of the CIA would report to Negroponte and the spy agency would retain its core responsibilities for collecting intelligence using spies and analyzing information from various sources.
Bush sought to assure the Pentagon, which gave up some budget powers with the creation of the new job, that it will still be able to get its job done.
"Our military commanders will continue to have quick access to the intelligence they need to achieve victory on the battlefield," Bush said.
One of the biggest setbacks for Negroponte in his previous post at the United Nations was failure to obtain Security Council approval of Bush's plan to invade Iraq in March 2003.
Among his successes in that job were resolutions adopted after the invasion that gave the United States total control over post-war construction and Iraqi oil proceeds. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland)
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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