Politics

Senate Panel Approves Hayden

May 23, 2006 / 10:39 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Gen. Michael Hayden moved a step closer Tuesday to becoming the nation's 20th CIA chief, where he will take over a spy agency looking for a leader to steer it through troubles ranging from al Qaeda threats to Washington politics.

The Senate Intelligence Committee recommended confirmation, 12-3, with three of the panel's seven Democrats voting against him. If the Senate approves him before Memorial Day, as expected, Hayden could be sworn in by Friday.

"I believe that we can get this nomination on the floor and approved before the end of the week if my Democrat colleagues will join with us in a bipartisan way to fill this critical national security position," the committee's chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., wrote in a statement.

"We think he is an outstanding choice to head the CIA," he said after the vote. "He is a proven leader and a supremely qualified intelligence professional."

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., praised Hayden for standing up to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on intelligence issues. "He has shown some independence and some backbone," Levin said.

Hayden, the former National Security Agency chief who became the nation's No. 2 intelligence official last year, has emerged as a leading defender of the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program.

That defense has raised his profile as the Senate has considered his nomination as CIA chief. It has not seemed to harm his prospects, though Democrats say the program is on shaky legal footing.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who voted against Hayden, has deemed the program illegal.

"I am not convinced that the nominee respects the rule of law and Congress's oversight responsibilities," he wrote in a statement Tuesday. "General Hayden is highly experienced and talented. But, as Director of the NSA, General Hayden directed an illegal program that put Americans on American soil under surveillance without the legally required approval of a judge."

Also voting against his confirmation were Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Evan Bayh of Indiana.