So General Michael Hayden is Porter Goss' successor (now with "official power" to get your White House sparkly clean!). He's being trumpeted by the White House as the man who will bring dramatic change to the CIA (which will return to its role of playing the American James Bond).
The choice of Gen. Michael V. Hayden of the Air Force as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency is only a first step in a planned overhaul to permanently change the mission and functions of the legendary spy agency, intelligence officials said Saturday.
A senior intelligence official said that General Hayden, in a recent presentation to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, had sharply criticized Mr. Goss for resisting the transformation. Mr. Goss was seen as trying to protect the C.I.A.'s longtime role as the government's premier center for intelligence analysis, but under General Hayden, much of that function would probably move elsewhere.
"There will be a serious change to the structure of the agency," one intelligence official said. That person and others from intelligence agencies and the Bush administration were granted anonymity for this article because they are not allowed to speak publicly about intelligence matters.
Well, General Hayden, there's the first item on the agenda for you--it's time to patch the place up because there are still leaks everywhere!
General Hayden has spent his career in the military, but his relationship with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has never been close. A Bush administration official said on Saturday that General Hayden was selected, in part, because he had demonstrated an ability to set aside a parochial military mind-set and look at the broader picture.
Now that's funny...Rumsfeld aside, I could have sworn I read that the only bosom buddy Hayden has in the White House is Cheney. Ah, well. I'm sure that didn't influence the decision any because Bush said he liked Hayden's ability to run a "large, complex organization," and he would also be a morale booster for the CIA. Morale booster? Isn't he considered an outsider by agents since he's been strictly military until now?
Besides the personnel changes, General Hayden will inherit an agency in some disarray if he is confirmed, a process likely to involve a public review of his role in domestic electronic surveillance as the N.S.A. director.
General Hayden would bring political influence that might be welcomed by the battered managers of the C.I.A., but some officers might resent him as an outsider, a military man and a representative of Mr. Negroponte, according to former agency officials. General Hayden would face the aftermath of a long list of problems that marked Mr. Goss's brief tenure.
Well, there you go.
Good luck with that whole "changing the CIA for the better" gig, really. Especially since you have a devil of a time remembering the Fourth Amendment--and pay attention, it's important because it talks about warrants...you know, that thing you were so damn flippant about last December when asked why Bush didn't go through the proper channels for his little wiretapping fun with American citizens' private lives.
Tags: [General Michael Hayden], [Hayden takes over Goss' job at CIA], [changing the CIA], [Hayden's Fourth Amendment troubles], [Bush says Hayden will boost morale]
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