BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Michael Hayden, whose Senate confirmation hearing begins on Thursday, has been nominated to head the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in "crisis", according to lawmakers.
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| Gen. Michael Hayden speaks at a Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing on world wide threats to the United States, on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this February 2, 2006. (Photo: Yahoo.com) |
"Everybody understands that we need to operate quite differently at the CIA," said Senator Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican on the Intelligence Committee. "You need the kind of leadership to give it the direction, to rebuild and revitalize the agency."
Hayden is now deputy director for national intelligence, a post to which he was named in August. He was chosen by President Bush earlier this month to replace Porter Goss as director of the beleaguered CIA.
He headed the National Security Agency (NSA) from 1999 to 2005, and has come under fire in recent months as senators are expected to grill him on the NSA's collection of phone records of millions of Americans and its warrantless eavesdropping on conversations between U.S. residents and suspected foreign terrorists.
USA Today reported last week that three of four major phone companies -- BellSouth , AT&T and Verizon Communications -- provided information on the calling records of millions of Americans.
Snowe said that, while Hayden's chances for confirmation are "obviously very good," the nominee will face tough questions on the NSA surveillance as well as other issues. "We have to make sure all questions are asked and all questions are answered," she said in an interview.
If confirmed by the full Senate, Hayden, 61, will find himself in the middle of one of the most fundamental debates about the agency's mission since Congress created the CIA in 1947. Enditem
(Agencies)
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