Slant Point - Intel Director Pick: Gen. Hayden
So the Intel reform bill passed. Firs the House earlier today, and just now, the Senate voted to approve the bill that creates a new National Intelligence Director, among other things. But the question really is, "Who will be the NID?"
Well, the list is short, but the commonality among candidates is singular. All leading candidates served in elected national public office. How does the short list for NID only include politicians? Where are the career intel guys - the cops, the spooks and the quasi-analysts? Where's guys like Giuliani (though he seems to be fading into the lucrative innvestment banker life)?
Well, at least we have Congressional consensus. The bill passed quite easily, and quickly, both signs that reform is on the way, yet deep leanings in either direction got left at on the doorstep. The Right wanted tougher border restrictions, while the Left wanted ultra-protection of civil liberties. We have a little of both. Neither side will be content, but the machine is rolling, and merely waiting for its driver to show us what direction it turns.
Personally, one non-pol on the list, Porter Goss, is a a terrible choice (now). He is talented, but was just placed at the helm of the CIA, and has yet to show anything there. He hardly deserves the promotion so quickly.
A Democrat is unlikely knowing Bush's recent streak of appointing loyalists. That strikes Sen. Joe Lieberman, 9/11 Commission head Thomas Kean and top Dem for House intelligence, Jane Harman. Republican House intelligence chairman, Pete Hoekstra, would seem a good candiate, but although he was extremely instrumental in overcoming the internal Republican impasse, he was quite pessimistic weeks ago this would ultimately happen. I don't trust someone to lead that does not speak with confidence and optimism. Hoekstra is better suited where he is, quietly advising.
With all the Pentagon pressure to ensure military operations would not suffer by having a new layer of intel possibly filtering timely innformation from reaching battlefields, I would assume the new director would be someone with military ties. This leaves but one top pick, Gen. Michael V. Hayden (Air Force), current Director of the National Security Agency.
Hayden is tough, controversial, military, and political. Goss even wants him for the #2 spot at the CIA. Hayden is a force for change, and can move beaurocracies. His one main weakness is that he is hardly spend-thrify. But in a role as important as intelligence - all American intelligence - I'm willing to overlook budget overruns for security.
slantpoint.com |
