WASHINGTON, May 18 (Xinhuanet) -- John Negroponte, a former US ambassador to Iraq and the United Nations, was sworn in as the country's first director of national intelligence on Wednesday.

    As the national intelligence director, Negroponte, 65, was authorized to take control of the country's 15 intelligence agencies that span several departments and employ some 100,000 civilian and military personnel.

    Speaking at the ceremony, US President George W. Bush said Negroponte would serve as his principal intelligence advisor, a position that was previously taken by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

    Negroponte's position "is one of the newest in the government, and one of the most demanding," Bush said.

    Negroponte's job was to make sure that US intelligence agencies work "as a single, unified enterprise" and "those whose duty it is to defend America have the information we need to make the right decisions," said the president.

    The swearing-in ceremony came five months after the Congress created the position in December last year, in response to a recommendation of an independent commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

    In its final report released in July last year, the commission criticized the intelligence community for failures leading up to the attacks and called on the Congress to create a powerful director to oversee the 15 intelligence agencies.

    Bush nominated Negroponte as the first national intelligence director in February, and Negroponte won the Senate's confirmation in April.

    A veteran diplomat, Negroponte had served in a number of diplomatic posts, and his latest diplomatic assignment was the US ambassadorship in Iraq. Enditem