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| Home Front: Politix |
| Hayden defends wiretapping at hearing |
| 2006-05-19 |
| Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden vigorously defended the legality of the Bush administration's domestic wiretapping program and declared that the CIA "must be transformed" to stay abreast of terrorist and other threats during an often contentious hearing on his nomination to be the next CIA director. Hayden spent much of the day fending off questions about his previous job as director of the National Security Agency. The four-star general acknowledged playing a larger than previously understood role in the creation of the controversial domestic eavesdropping program, and repeatedly refused to respond to questions about details of the operation during the public portion of his testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. But Hayden also described ambitious plans for the beleaguered agency he hopes to lead next, saying he intends to push the CIA to be more aggressive in mounting clandestine operations and more rigorous in the assessments it produces to avoid the mistakes that plagued the prewar estimates on Iraq. In perhaps the clearest signal of a looming shift in course for the troubled agency, Hayden made it clear that he believes the CIA has become too bogged down tracking daily developments in Iraq and other global trouble spots. Instead, he suggested that the CIA should surrender more of that work to the Pentagon, focus more of its energies on anticipating longer-term threats and trends, and reconcile itself to a diminished role in which it is an important, but not isolated, member of the U.S. intelligence community. At one point, Hayden likened the CIA to "a top player on a football team -- critical, but part of an integrated whole. Even the top player needs to focus on the scoreboard, not on their individual achievement." Hayden, 61, currently serves as the deputy director for national intelligence, the principal deputy to the nation's top spymaster, John D. Negroponte, who oversees the activities of all 16 U.S. spy agencies. The general played a behind-the-scenes role in ousting former CIA director Porter J. Goss, who resigned two weeks ago amid criticism that he was too turf-conscious and resistant to reforms. Lawmakers and Senate aides emerged from Thursday's session saying that Hayden was likely to be confirmed by the Senate as early as next week. Even so, the hearing made it clear that Hayden's standing among some members has been diminished by his involvement in domestic surveillance programs that have been major sources of controversy for the Bush administration in recent months. Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush authorized the NSA to intercept communications between people in the United States and individuals overseas suspected of having ties to al-Qaida. In doing so, the NSA bypassed the usual requirement that the government obtain permission from a court before placing wiretaps on a U.S. resident. The Bush administration also kept the program hidden from all but a handful of lawmakers until it was exposed in news reports last year. During one particularly tense exchange Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., challenged Hayden to reconcile details that have emerged on the scope of the surveillance operation with previous public comments downplaying its significance or suggesting that the government was not eavesdropping on Americans without court warrants. "General, I can't tell now if you've simply said one thing and done another, or whether you have just parsed your words like a lawyer to intentionally mislead the public," Wyden said. "What's to say that if you're confirmed to head the CIA, we won't go through exactly this kind of drill with you over there?" Hayden shot back: "Well, Senator, you're going to have to make a judgment on my character." Hayden acknowledged that the program raised privacy concerns, but said repeatedly that he believed it was lawful. "I'm very comfortable with what the agency did, what I did," he said. He resisted pressure to provide more details, saying he would address matters in a closed session with senators scheduled later in the day. He similarly deflected questions about the CIA's interrogation methods and handling of detainees. But Hayden did provide some new information on the origins of the domestic surveillance program, indicating that he proposed the idea after being prompted by then-CIA director George J. Tenet to consider what else the NSA might do to combat terrorism. Tenet "invited me to come down and talk to the administration about what more could be done," Hayden said. "There then followed a discussion as to why or how we could make that possible." He did not elaborate, but disputed reports that Vice President Cheney or other administration officials put pressure on the NSA to be even more aggressive in spying on Americans. Some lawmakers have questioned whether Hayden's lengthy military career is a liability at a time when the Pentagon is increasingly encroaching on the CIA's traditional turf. Hayden expressed support for the expanding military role in intelligence-gathering, saying that the burden on the CIA has been so taxing that "we welcome additional players on the field." But he also sought to distance himself from the Pentagon, noting that he and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had disagreed over reforms that eroded the military's influence over intelligence operations and budgets. Hayden was also sharply critical of the activities of a controversial intelligence analytic unit set up within the Pentagon by former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, a leading advocate for the war in Iraq. The team Feith assembled helped make the case for war by uncovering supposed links between Saddam Hussein's regime and al-Qaida. Their findings were presented to the CIA and officials at the White House, but have since been discredited. Feith's team, Hayden said, had set out to prove a case by assembling "every possible ounce of evidence" and ignoring contradictory information. Using that method, he continued, analysts can build a convincing case against even innocent targets. "I got three great kids, but if you tell me, 'Go out and find all the bad things they've done, Hayden,' I could build you a pretty good dossier," Hayden said. "You'd think they were pretty bad people because that's what I was looking for and that's what I built up. That'd be very wrong, OK? That would be inaccurate. That would be misleading." Hayden said he was concerned that numerous investigations and public criticism have taken a toll on the agency. "It is time to move past what seems to me to be an endless picking apart of the 'archaeology' of every past intelligence failure and success," Hayden said. "CIA needs to get out of the news -- as source or subject -- and focus on protecting the American people by acquiring secrets and providing high-quality all-source analysis." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |