Reuters reported Sunday that the Republican chair of the House committee on intelligence told "Fox News Sunday" that Gen. Michael Hayden, former head of the National Security Agency and now National Intelligence Director John Negroponte's chief deputy, would be the "wrong person at the wrong place at the wrong time."[1] -- "We should not have a military person leading a civilian agency at this time," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI 2nd). -- Gen. Hayden is expected to be nominated as soon as Mon., May 8, but Bloomberg News reported that Rep. Hoekstra said "Hayden's nomination would imply that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has too much power over intelligence."[2] -- "Putting a general in charge, regardless of how good Mike is, is going to send the wrong signal through the agency here in Washington and also to our agents around the world," Hoekstra said. -- In recent years Hoekstra has emerged as a significant critic of what the Bush administration is doing with and to the intelligence agencies of the U.S. national security state. -- On Sept. 29, 2005, the New York Times, reporting on the Pentagon's "propaganda efforts and highly technological initiatives . . . masked as so-called special access programs" with which the Dept. of Defense under Donald Rumsfeld has elaborately equipped itself, quoted Rep. Hoekstra as saying that his committee "had been told that the Pentagon was creating parallel structures 'so they don't have to deal with the D.N.I.,' the abbreviation for the new intelligence chief." -- Clearly, Hoekstra believes that the militarization of intelligence under Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld poses a long-term danger to the Republic. -- In the September 2005 article, reporter Douglas Jehl noted: "Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon is understood to have carried out a major expansion of its intelligence programs, including human spying efforts by Special Operations Forces and an arm of the Defense Intelligence Agency, whose missions have expanded into areas traditionally the purview of the Central Intelligence Agency." -- As for Hoekstra, the 53-year-old former Michigan furniture executive, who emigrated from the Netherlands at the age of 3, is famously "independent-minded and unpredictable" (Almanac of American Politics 2004, pp. 822-23)....
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News
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REPUBLICAN SEES PROBLEMS WITH LIKELY BUSH CIA PICK
Reuters
May 7, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The general considered the Bush administration's likely choice to become CIA director would be the "wrong person at the wrong place at the wrong time," the Republican head of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said on Sunday.
Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency, has been widely cited in the media as the President George W. Bush's expected pick to lead the CIA following the ouster of CIA director Porter Goss.
"We should not have a military person leading a civilian agency at this time," Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, told "Fox News Sunday."
He said the Department of Defense, which has its own intelligence agencies, had been the biggest opponent to intelligence reform and that there were continuing tensions between the CIA and the Defense Department.
"I think putting a general in charge, regardless of how good Mike is, putting a general charge is going to send the wrong signal to the agency here in Washington but also to our agents in the field around the world," Hoekstra said.
"The bottom line: I do believe he is the wrong person at the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
He said the perception would be that the CIA was under the sway of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Hoekstra said the White House had discussed several possible candidates with him, and his views on Hayden would not be a surprise to the Bush administration.
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HOUSE INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN OPPOSES HAYDEN AS NEXT CIA CHIEF
By Avram Goldstein
Bloomberg News
May 7, 2006
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ai3E.MJ6VklA&refer=top_world_news
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee urged the White House not to nominate Air Force Lieutenant General Michael Hayden to head the civilian Central Intelligence Agency.
Hayden, 61, a veteran intelligence official, is likely to be nominated, perhaps as soon as tomorrow, a senior administration official said May 5.
Hayden is principal deputy director in the Office of National Intelligence, the agency recently created to coordinate a wide array of U.S. intelligence functions now carried out by more than a dozen civilian and military units. Previously he served as director of the super-secret National Security Agency, which runs massive electronic surveillance programs over international communications.
"I've got a lot of respect for Mike Hayden, and he's done a good job, but I do believe he's the wrong person at the wrong place at the wrong time," said U.S. Representative Pete Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican. "We should not have a military person leading a civilian agency at this time."
Tension between Defense Department and civilian intelligence agencies is high now in the wake of spying failures before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. and during the run- up to the Iraq war, Hoekstra said. Hayden's nomination would imply that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has too much power over intelligence, the chairman said.
"Putting a general in charge, regardless of how good Mike is, is going to send the wrong signal through the agency here in Washington and also to our agents around the world," he said.
Hayden would replace Porter Goss, who resigned May 5 as CIA director after serving less than two years in that post. The job of CIA director has become less important since the creation last year of the national intelligence office, whose director, John Negroponte, has taken over a number of functions once performed by the CIA chief.
Hayden had been criticized for spearheading the government's warrantless eavesdropping on suspected terrorists, a secret operation that has alarmed civil liberties groups.