PRESIDENT BUSH yesterday named his Ambassador to Iraq as Director of National Intelligence, a new post designed to avert intelligence failures of the kind seen before the September 11 attacks and war in Iraq.
John Negroponte, the British-born son of a Greek shipping magnate, said the role would be “the most challenging assignment” of his 40-year diplomatic career.
At least three prominent figures had rejected the invitation to manage a $40 billion budget, pull together the work of 15 competing agencies and deliver Mr Bush his daily intel briefing.
The post, which must be approved by the Senate, seeks to improve co-operation between the Pentagon, CIA and other agencies. It will put Mr Negroponte on a collision course with the Department of Defence, which is deeply attached to the four-fifths of the spying budget it controls, including the satellite network and communications intercepts. He will also have to negotiate turf wars between the Pentagon, the CIA and the FBI.
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Mr Negroponte is a seasoned diplomat accustomed to the heat. His former role as ambassador to Honduras when the Reagan Administration was using the country as a base to topple Nicaragua’s Sandinista government have long made him a target for Democrats.
Before taking up his post in Baghdad, less than a year ago, he served as ambassador to the UN in the run-up to war. Despite his failure to secure Security Council support for the invasion of Iraq, he remains one of the President’s most trusted diplomats. The new position of intelligence tsar was a central recommendation of the commission set up to investigate September 2001.
Mr Bush had faced criticism for the delay in naming an appointee, but the White House had repeatedly failed to find a willing candidate.
Robert Gates, who ran the CIA under the President’s father, announced last month he had declined the role. William Barr, the first President Bush’s Attorney-General who is now a top telecoms executive, and Sam Nunn, a respected former senator from Georgia, are also reported to have said no.
Intelligence experts agreed Mr Negroponte’s perceived closeness to Mr Bush would be an asset. But some questioned his ability to breach the rivalries within the intelligence community.
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The families of several victims of the September 11 attacks criticised his nomination. “While Mr Negroponte has a long history of holding diplomatic posts, we have serious reservations about Mr Negroponte’s skills and experience in the intelligence arena,” said a statement released by the September 11th Advocates group, which had led calls for an inquiry into the attacks. “Moreover, we do not need an appeaser in the position.”