WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- President Bush nominated Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden on Monday to take the helm at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Hayden's nomination, announced by the president in the Oval Office, came despite criticism from Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill.
If confirmed by the Senate, Hayden would take over from Porter Goss, who resigned Friday.
Hayden, former chief of the National Security Agency and current deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, has so far centered on concern over military personnel running all three of the country's primary intelligence organizations. But Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said over the weekend the concern was misplaced.
"He'll be reporting to the president of the United States, not (Defense Secretary) Don Rumsfeld," he said.
Bush Monday emphasized Hayden's experience "from the ground up" in the intelligence field as a consumer of intelligence as well as a producer of it. He said Hayden would help ensure the agency's "ability to adapt" to the new challenges facing the intelligence community in the post-Sept. 11 world.
Other concerns over Hayden's nomination in Congress stems from the president's controversial warrantless communications surveillance program of international communications between people in the United States and people abroad suspected of terror links. The National Security Agency under Hayden implemented it.
Hayden, in accepting the nomination, emphasized that if confirmed he would work with Congress on intelligence matters because the security of the United States and a well-functioning intelligence capability were "too important not to get absolutely right."
The post of CIA director has lost it's polish with the creation of the director of nationl intelligence. Coordination for all the nation's intelligence efforts was wonce the purview of the CIA chief, but the new umbrella intelligence post held by Negroponte negated that.
