Associated Press
05-09-06
Update 4: Analysis: Both Sides Critical of Bush Pick
By TOM RAUM
Once again, President Bush may have misjudged the extent of GOP resistance
to one of his decisions. His nomination of a four-star general to serve as CIA
director has drawn complaints from Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike.
The administration's shake-up, under way since late March, was expected to
improve White House dealings with Congress. Yet Bush's selection of Air Force
Gen. Michael Hayden to head the troubled spy agency, three days after he
announced the resignation of Porter Goss, seems to have caught some top
Republicans by surprise.
That includes Rep.Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee, who said Hayden "is the wrong person at the wrong
place at the wrong time."
Bush defended his choice against such criticism, saying Hayden was "the right
man to lead the CIA at this critical moment in our nation's history." And most top
Republicans voiced support for the nomination.
But grumbling in some GOP quarters seemed likely to persist, fueled in part by
Republican concern over Bush's declining approval ratings.
Those ratings - at 33 percent in a recent AP-Ipsos poll, the lowest of his
presidency - have emboldened Republicans to speak out when they don't agree
with the president, something that didn't happen during Bush's first term.
Congressional Republicans have been battered by a string of White House woes.
These include the fumbled handling of Hurricane Katrina; unhappiness about
Iraq; opposition to the now-abandoned Dubai ports deal; the failed nomination of
Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court; Bush's inability to achieve the centerpiece of
his domestic agenda, an overhaul of Social Security, and the uproar over a
secret eavesdropping program in the war on terrorism.
The fact that Hayden oversaw the surveillance program as director of the
National Security Agency only keeps the controversy alive, with questions over it
likely to figure prominently at his Senate confirmation hearings. He headed the
NSA from 1999-2005.
"If he interprets the law as he appears to be interpreting it, I think it's bad for the
country to have the chief of intelligence having telephones in the United States
monitored without somebody else approving it," said retired Adm. Stansfield
Turner, who was CIA chief during the Carter administration.
Otherwise, Turner characterized Hayden as "very qualified and very capable"
and said he personally has no problems with giving the civilian job to an active
military officer.
Turner was an admiral when he headed the CIA, a fact administration officials
pointed to on Monday in defense of Bush's choice.
Still, with public support for the war in Iraq eroding and the Pentagon under
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld moving more and more into intelligencegathering activities, the naming of an active four-star general raised concerns in
Congress and with civil-liberties groups.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee, suggested Hayden consider resigning from the
Air Force and "put to rest questions about whether an active duty military officer
should lead the CIA at this time."
National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, who oversees the CIA and 15
other spy agencies, said Hayden had no such plans and called him "a very, very
independent-minded" individual who wouldn't bow to any Pentagon pressure.
The criticism of Bush's CIA choice, at least initially, did not appear deep enough
to put Hayden's confirmation chances in serious jeopardy. But it seemed certain
to yield contentious confirmation hearings - and likely to widen the rift between
the White House and some members of his own party on Capitol Hill.
"It's another example of how the president's perception of things conflicts even
with some of the leading Republicans in Congress," said Steffen Schmidt, a
political science professor at Iowa State University.
Outgoing White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush aides had
reached out to members of Congress over the weekend about Hayden's
qualifications, and were continuing to do so. He would not comment on whether
the administration was taken by surprise at the skepticism being voiced. "We're
confident he's going to have strong support," McClellan said.
If confirmed, Hayden faces an even more daunting challenge in trying to revive
the embattled agency.
"He's got a massive human problem. People are demoralized. People are leaving
the agency," said James Lewis, a former career diplomat familiar with intelligence
issues who is now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Hayden is not exactly a new face to Congress. He was confirmed unanimously
by the Senate for his present post as Negroponte's deputy.
"Despite the president's statements that he wants to bring fresh ideas and better
management to the administration, the president just keeps the same crowd
around him and switches their job titles," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.