Veteran hired to bring US intelligence into line

John Negroponte took on the demanding job that others weren't prepared to tackle. Picture / Reuters

Veteran diplomat John Negroponte is the United States' first national intelligence director, a position created to co-ordinate America's intelligence agencies and prevent the failures surrounding the September 11 attacks.

Negroponte, 65, the present ambassador in Iraq, was appointed by President Bush to oversee the often disparate intelligence community and ensure information is shared. A failure to share information between agencies was highlighted by the commission investigating the September 11 attacks and it recommended the creation of a national director.

But the job is something of a poisoned chalice. Negroponte will be fighting a bureaucratic and political turf war against adversaries who include Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has signalled his intention to give the Pentagon a greater intelligence-gathering role, and Porter Goss, appointed last year to head the CIA. At least three other candidates had turned down the post before Bush turned to Negroponte.

"John will make sure that those whose duty it is to defend America have the information we need to make the right decisions," Bush said. "We're going to stop terrorists before they strike."

A failure by the CIA to pass on information to the FBI about two of the hijackers who were on "watch-lists" was highlighted by the September 11 commission as the sort of failure that had to be prevented. It said the FBI and CIA were also unable to "connect the dots" about many clues suggesting an attack was imminent.

Bush made clear he wanted there to be no doubts that Negroponte would be in the senior co-ordinating position. In an apparent reference to Rumsfeld's moves at the Pentagon he said Negroponte would make sure that "our military commanders continue to have quick access" to battlefield intelligence and that "the director of the CIA will report to John".

Negroponte, a former US Ambassador to the UN, is considered very close to the Bush Administration and someone willing to take on high-pressure positions.

He he has been ambassador to the Philippines, Mexico and Honduras and was condemned by the left for his actions in Honduras, assisting the US-backed Contras in their war against the elected Sandinista Government of Nicaragua.

His confirmation to the UN post was delayed six months because of criticism of his record in Honduras, where he was also accused of acquiescing to abuses by death squads funded and trained by the CIA.

He testified that he did not believe death squads were operating.

One of the biggest setbacks for Negroponte at the United Nations was his failure to obtain Security Council approval of Bush's plan to invade Iraq in March 2003, but major successes were the resolutions adopted after the invasion that gave the US total control over post-war construction and oil proceeds.

Negroponte said his new position would be "the most challenging assignment I have undertaken in more than 40 years of Government service."

Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has to approve Negroponte's nomination, was pleased by his selection and that of General Mike Hayden, director of the National Security Agency, as deputy.

- Independent, Reuters.