U.S. Intel Chief Moving to State Department

U.S. Intelligence Director John Negroponte is expected to announce soon that he will leave his position after less than two years to become deputy secretary of state, the New York Times reported (see GSN, July 28, 2006).

The former U.N. ambassador in April 2005 became the first person to hold the new job, charged with overseeing all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.  His job was to improve their operations and reputations following the Sept. 11 attacks and incorrect assessments of prewar Iraq’s WMD programs.

Negroponte has also served as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and the deepening troubles there would be one of his priorities as the No. 2 to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, according to the Times.

The position at the State Department has been vacant since Robert Zoellick resigned in July in favor of a job on Wall Street, the Associated Press reported.  Several other potential candidates have declined to take the job (Katherine Shrader, Associated Press/ABC News, Jan. 4).

It was not yet clear whether Negroponte was switching jobs because he was needed at the State Department, of because of White House dissatisfaction with his work as intelligence chief, or both, the Times reported.

The national intelligence director technically is a more senior position that deputy secretary of state.

“The director of national intelligence is an absolutely critical position.  I’m disappointed that Negroponte would leave this critical position when it’s still in its infancy,” said Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine).  “There are a number of people who could ably serve as deputy secretary of state, but few who can handle the challenge of chief of intelligence.”

“I’m worrying that our deficit in intelligence will not be corrected.  I’m sorry Negroponte isn’t completing his term because he at least understood intelligence,” said Representative Jane Harman (D-Calif.).

Retired Vice Adm. Michael McConnell, head of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996, has been identified as a likely successor to Negroponte.  Both men would need Senate confirmation to take their new posts (Mark Mazzetti, New York Times, Jan. 4).

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