Domestic eavesdropper to head CIA.Four-star Air Force General Michael Hayden, a 30-year intelligence veteran who headed the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program, was tapped by the president on May 8 to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Since 2005, Gen. Hayden (a member of the Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an influential and independent, nonpartisan foreign policy membership organization founded in 1921 and based at 58 East 68th Street (corner Park Avenue) in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C. ) has been deputy to John Negroponte John Dimitri Negroponte (born July 21, 1939 in the United Kingdom) (IPA [ˌnɛgroʊˈpɑnti]) is a American diplomat. He is currently serving as the United States Deputy Secretary of State. , the administration's National Intelligence Director. The AP points out: "With Hayden's installation, active duty or retired military officers would run all the major spy agencies as well as the intelligence hub, the National Counterterrorism coun·ter·ter·ror adj. Intended to prevent or counteract terrorism: counterterror measures; counterterror weapons. n. Action or strategy intended to counteract or suppress terrorism. Center." Hayden's nomination provoked opposition from legislators on both sides of the aisle. Senator Arlen Specter Arlen "Phil" Specter (born February 12 1930) is a United States Senator from Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Republican Party, and was first elected in 1980. Biography Early life and career (R-Pa.) has promised to interrogate Hayden about the eavesdropping Secretly gaining unauthorized access to confidential communications. Examples include listening to radio transmissions or using laser interferometers to reconstitute conversations by reflecting laser beams off windows that are vibrating in synchrony to the sound in the room. program. Concerns have also been expressed by Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), and House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.). The nomination is flatly opposed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who said through a spokesman that he "believes a military figure should not be the head of a civilian agency." |
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