Saturday, December 30, 2006
Rockefeller 'Troubled' by Intelligence Void
John Negroponte's impending departure as U.S. intelligence chief Thursday raised new qualms about the future of national security reforms intended to safeguard the United States against Sept. 11-scale attacks.
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress openly expressed misgivings about a new change in leadership at the helm of the 16-agency intelligence community, barely 21 months after Negroponte became the first director of national intelligence.
"I am deeply troubled by the timing of this announcement and the void of leadership at the top of our intelligence community," Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, Democratic chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement.
To address such concerns, Bush was expected to nominate retired Navy Adm. Mike McConnell to replace Negroponte as early as Friday, a senior administration official said.
McConnell directed the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996 and intelligence sources speculated that the former military commander would place greater emphasis on the domestic intelligence operations of the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
Negroponte, whose job was created by Congress in late 2004, became President Bush's top intelligence adviser in April 2005 when U.S. intelligence was still reeling from major lapses involving Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks.
Experts have given Negroponte high marks for assembling a talented staff of senior intelligence professionals and fostering the seeds of cooperation between agencies including the CIA and FBI.
"He was just beginning to make the progress that the intelligence reform act of 2004 envisioned in improving the collection and analysis and sharing of intelligence information," said Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who helped write the legislation setting up the new intelligence agency structure.
But word of the 67-year-old career diplomat's move to the No. 2 post at the State Department also brought a sense of relief to others who viewed his agency as another bureaucracy, with 1,500 staff members and a tepid performance record.
John Pike, director of the online think tank GlobalSecurity.org, said Negroponte showed early fortitude in dealings with contractors involved in a top secret satellite project in 2005.
"It was the make or break of whether he could make hard decisions stick. He passed the test," said Pike. "But if he's done anything major since, he's certainly avoided telling anyone about it."
A main concern for critics and advocates alike was that a change in leadership after so short a tenure would disrupt the continuity necessary to shepherd reforms still in their infancy.
Some noted that Negroponte's former principal deputy, Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, left his post to become CIA director early last year and has not been replaced.
But Richard Posner, a federal appellate judge and a noted authority on intelligence, said McConnell would provide Bush with a candidate who exhibits the right mix of intelligence experience and management skill.
"There's some loss of continuity and it's unfortunate. But this is essentially a management job, and Adm. McConnell seems to offer the right formula," Posner said.
The judge was among several experts including former intelligence officials who viewed Negroponte as best suited to diplomacy.
"This is a chance to get the round peg in the round hole, and the square peg in the square hole," Posner added.
John Negroponte's impending departure as U.S. intelligence chief Thursday raised new qualms about the future of national security reforms intended to safeguard the United States against Sept. 11-scale attacks.
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress openly expressed misgivings about a new change in leadership at the helm of the 16-agency intelligence community, barely 21 months after Negroponte became the first director of national intelligence.
"I am deeply troubled by the timing of this announcement and the void of leadership at the top of our intelligence community," Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, Democratic chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement.
To address such concerns, Bush was expected to nominate retired Navy Adm. Mike McConnell to replace Negroponte as early as Friday, a senior administration official said.
McConnell directed the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996 and intelligence sources speculated that the former military commander would place greater emphasis on the domestic intelligence operations of the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
Negroponte, whose job was created by Congress in late 2004, became President Bush's top intelligence adviser in April 2005 when U.S. intelligence was still reeling from major lapses involving Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks.
Experts have given Negroponte high marks for assembling a talented staff of senior intelligence professionals and fostering the seeds of cooperation between agencies including the CIA and FBI.
"He was just beginning to make the progress that the intelligence reform act of 2004 envisioned in improving the collection and analysis and sharing of intelligence information," said Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who helped write the legislation setting up the new intelligence agency structure.
But word of the 67-year-old career diplomat's move to the No. 2 post at the State Department also brought a sense of relief to others who viewed his agency as another bureaucracy, with 1,500 staff members and a tepid performance record.
John Pike, director of the online think tank GlobalSecurity.org, said Negroponte showed early fortitude in dealings with contractors involved in a top secret satellite project in 2005.
"It was the make or break of whether he could make hard decisions stick. He passed the test," said Pike. "But if he's done anything major since, he's certainly avoided telling anyone about it."
A main concern for critics and advocates alike was that a change in leadership after so short a tenure would disrupt the continuity necessary to shepherd reforms still in their infancy.
Some noted that Negroponte's former principal deputy, Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, left his post to become CIA director early last year and has not been replaced.
But Richard Posner, a federal appellate judge and a noted authority on intelligence, said McConnell would provide Bush with a candidate who exhibits the right mix of intelligence experience and management skill.
"There's some loss of continuity and it's unfortunate. But this is essentially a management job, and Adm. McConnell seems to offer the right formula," Posner said.
The judge was among several experts including former intelligence officials who viewed Negroponte as best suited to diplomacy.
"This is a chance to get the round peg in the round hole, and the square peg in the square hole," Posner added.
