Can Hayden Be Confirmed For CIA Post?

Just two days after Porter Goss's surprise resignation from the top spot at the CIA, debate over President George Bush's likely replacement is heating up.

White House officials have said that Air Force General Michael Hayden will be tapped to head the embattled spy agency, with an official announcement coming as soon as Monday.

Congressional support for Hayden is far from unanimous, even among Republicans, and some see a long and difficult confirmation process.

Democrats and Republicans on Sunday questioned whether the civilian spy agency should have a director with Hayden's military background.

But, on CBS' Face The Nation, Sen. John McCain – who said he is "inclined" to support the nomination – said, "General Hayden is really more of an intelligence person than he is an Air Force officer."

Despite a distinguished career at the Defense Department, Hayden would be "the wrong person, the wrong place at the wrong time," said the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Peter Hoekstra.

"There are ongoing tensions between this premier civilian intelligence agency and DOD as we speak," Hoekstra said. "And I think putting a general in charge — regardless of how good Mike is — ... is going to send the wrong signal through the agency here in Washington but also to our agents in the field around the world," he told "Fox News Sunday."

If Hayden were to get the nomination, military officers would run the major spy agencies in the United States, from the ultra-secret National Security Agency to the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The Pentagon already controls more than 80 percent of the intelligence budget.

"You can't have the military control most of the major aspects of intelligence," said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The CIA "is a civilian agency and is meant to be a civilian agency," she said on ABC's "This Week."

A second committee member, Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, added, "I think the fact that he is a part of the military today would be the major problem."

Democratic Sen. Joe Biden mentioned fears the CIA would "just be gobbled up by the Defense Department" if Hayden were to take over.

Biden, who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee said he would view a Hayden nomination as a way to get information from the Bush administration about its secretive domestic surveillance program, undertaken by the NSA when Hayden led that agency.

The warrantless monitoring covered electronic communications between people in the United States and other parties overseas with suspected terrorist links.

Congresswoman Jane Harman, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Saturday that when she travels overseas, she hears concerns from civilian CIA professionals about whether the Defense Department is taking over intelligence operations. She shares those concerns.

"There are probably more people in uniform running around the intelligence community than any other time in history."

Hayden was National Security Agency director until becoming the nation's No. 2 intelligence official a year ago. Since December, he has aggressively defended the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program. He was one of its chief architects.

The next CIA chief must deal with low morale at the agency; uncertainties in the intelligence about hot spots such as Iran and North Korea; an uncontrolled insurgency in Iraq; and the pursuit — fruitless so far — of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders.

Among other pressure points, the incoming director will have to help sort out how the National Clandestine Service fits in with the CIA and other intelligence agencies. This organization, created in the intelligence overhaul, is made up largely of the CIA's spookiest operatives.

Goss' successor also will have to decide where the CIA's analysts will serve best: at the agency or new specialty centers, such as the National Counterterrorism Center.

Hayden would have to adapt to the CIA's culture, which is considered more rambunctious than the military's hierarchy. That could mean that as changes are made, CIA staff may not be as quick to salute as would those at the NSA, which is part of the Pentagon.