Bush names Negroponte intelligence chief 
From Suzanne Malveaux
CNN Washington Bureau
Thursday, February 17, 2005 Posted: 10:21 AM EST (1521 GMT) 


 
President Bush on Thursday names John Negroponte as director of national intelligence. 
      
 
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Thursday nominated John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, as the nation's first director of national intelligence. 

"The director's responsibility is straightforward and demanding," Bush said in his announcement.

"John will make sure those whose duty it is to defend America have the information we need to make the right decisions."

Negroponte, 65, has been the top U.S. diplomat in Iraq since June.

He was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2001 to 2004. 

Bush also announced that he had chosen Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, director of the National Security Agency, as Negroponte's deputy.

The intelligence czar's position springs from the intelligence overhaul bill that Bush signed into law in December. The legislation was designed to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 commission that investigated the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. 

The director will be responsible for overseeing and managing the U.S. intelligence community -- authority that had been spread between 15 intelligence agencies.

Bush said that the new structure will make it easier for those agencies to share information but would not change their chains of command.

The job will be one of the the most powerful in the U.S. government. Some critics have said that the director's duties and authority have not been spelled out clearly.

Before the announcement, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Thursday that Congress did not want to handcuff the director.

"I think the fact that all of the lines aren't crossed and every decision isn't made about what powers the DNI has is an advantage for the DNI because a vacuum invites power. I think it is much more important that the DNI be able to come in, he or she, in order to fill that out according to their own instincts," Rockefeller said. 

"If we had prescribed in Congress each of the relationships between the agencies, I think that would have been an enormous mistake and would have rendered this person more useless. This person can exercise power, and I think that's good."

The Senate must confirm Negroponte.

The day before, Rockefeller had criticized Bush for taking so long to name a director.

"Two months have now passed since the bill signing ceremony, and the position of director of national intelligence remains vacant, not even a person nominated. To me, this is unacceptable," he said Wednesday at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, the committee's chairman, said he shared Rockefeller's frustrations, but he noted the importance of choosing the right person. 

Roberts also reminded the committee the bill indicated the Bush administration had until June 17 to appoint the director.

"It is my opinion that the administration is also awaiting the report of the independent [weapons of mass destruction] commission, part of whose job or task is to take a look at the intelligence reform bill and make some recommendations," Roberts said.

Bush appointed this commission to investigate faulty prewar intelligence that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime had weapons of mass destruction. The administration cited such a program in its decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, but inspectors have found no stockpiles of weapons.

