Negroponte Is Shifted to Deputy State Dept. Post;
Ex-NSA Chief J. Michael McConnell May Be New DNI
John D. Negroponte in February 2005, Mike McConnel, SVP at
Booz Allen Hamilton,
when he was named director of and NSA Director
from 1992-96
National intelligence by President Bush.
By Mark Mazzetti
Published: January 4, 200
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/washington/04secretary.html?hp&ex=11679732
00&en=27716b5853f73de5&ei=5094&partner=homepage
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - John D. Negroponte
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/john_d_negropo
nte/index.html?inline=nyt-per> , whom President Bush installed less
than two years ago as the first director of national intelligence, will soon
leave his post
to become the State Department's second-ranking official, administration
officials said Wednesday.
http://graphics10.nytimes.com/images/2007/01/03/world/190_negroponte.jpg
John D. Negroponte in February 2005, when he was named director of
intelligence by President Bush.
Mr. Negroponte will fill a critical job that has been vacant for months, and
he is expected
to play a leading role in shaping policy in Iraq
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/ir
aq/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> . But his transfer is another blow to an
intelligence community that has seen little continuity at the top since the
departure
of George J. Tenet
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/george_j_tenet
/index.html?inline=nyt-per> in 2004 as director of central intelligence.
Mr. Negroponte had been brought to the intelligence job to help restore
credibility and
effectiveness to agencies whose reputations were badly damaged by failures
related
to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and mistaken prewar assessments of Iraq's
illicit weapons.
He has maintained a low public profile but provides Mr. Bush with a briefing
most mornings.
President Bush has hailed the establishment of the intelligence post as an
essential
step in helping prevent another terrorist attack. On paper, the director of
national intelligence
outranks the deputy secretary of state, raising questions about why the
White House
would seek - and why Mr. Negroponte would agree to - the shift.
The move, expected to be announced this week, comes as the president
prepares to
announce a new strategy for Iraq as sectarian violence worsens there and
approval
ratings sag at home.
The administration has had great difficulty filling the State Department
position.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/condoleezza_ri
ce/index.html?inline=nyt-per> has asked several people who have turned
down the post, according to senior State Department officials.
But administration officials interviewed on Wednesday would not say whether
Mr. Negroponte was moving because the White House saw him as uniquely
qualified for the diplomatic post, or because President Bush was
dissatisfied
with his performance as intelligence chief, or whether it was a combination
of the two.
Mr. Negroponte has served as ambassador to the United Nations
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_
nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org> and to Iraq,
and administration officials say Ms. Rice was trying to recruit him to bring
more Iraq expertise to her office.
Administration officials from two different agencies said Wednesday that the
leading candidate to become the new intelligence chief is J. Michael
McConnell,
a retired vice admiral who led the National Security Agency
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/nationa
l_security_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org> from 1992 to 1996.
Admiral McConnell was head of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/j/joint_c
hiefs_of_staff/index.html?inline=nyt-org> under
Gen. Colin L. Powell
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/colin_l_powell
/index.html?inline=nyt-per> during the first Persian Gulf war, in 1991.
Mr. Bush had at first been reluctant to set up the intelligence post, but
ultimately bowed to Congressional pressure and made the office a
cabinet-level position.
As deputy secretary of state, Mr. Negroponte, who would need Senate
confirmation for the post, would fill a pivotal foreign policy position that
has
been vacant since Robert B. Zoellick
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/z/robert_b_zoell
ick/index.html?inline=nyt-per> resigned to take a post at Goldman Sachs.
The shift of Mr. Negroponte, first reported Wednesday evening by NBC News,
reflects a further transformation in President Bush's foreign policy team
that has already seen Robert M. Gates
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/robert_m_gates
/index.html?inline=nyt-per> take over as defense secretary
from Donald H. Rumsfeld
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/donald_h_rumsf
eld/index.html?inline=nyt-per> . Mr. Bush still has other top posts to fill,
including
that of ambassador to the United Nations, left vacant with the departure of
John R. Bolton
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/john_r_bolton/
index.html?inline=nyt-per> .
Mr. Negroponte would move to the State Department as the administration
is preparing a shift in Iraq strategy.
As a career diplomat who also served as ambassador to Mexico, the
Philippines
and Honduras, Mr. Negroponte brought a policy maker's perspective to the
role of intelligence chief, a post established by Congress at the end of
2004
to address a lack of coordination among intelligence agencies. He took
over the job in April 2005, and said in an interview on C-Span last month
that he expected to stay in his position until the end of the Bush
administration.
Admiral McConnell is a career intelligence officer who is a senior vice
president
of Booz Allen Hamilton, an international consulting firm. During his tenure
at
the Pentagon and as director of the National Security Agency, Admiral
McConnell
worked closely with Mr. Gates during Mr. Gates's time as deputy national
security adviser and as director of central intelligence, and with Dick
Cheney
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/dick_cheney/in
dex.html?inline=nyt-per>
while he was defense secretary during the first Persian Gulf war.
Senator Susan M. Collins
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/susan_collins/
index.html?inline=nyt-per> , Republican of Maine and chairwoman of the
Senate Government Reform Committee, was a major backer of the
intelligence post, and on Wednesday she said of the reported transfer:
"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. There are a number of people who could ably serve
as deputy secretary of state, but few who can handle the challenges of chief
of intelligence."
Representative Jane Harman, a California Democrat who also pressed for
establishment of the intelligence job, said: "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."
Mr. Negroponte's move to the State Department has been rumored for months.
Ms. Rice was pushing to bring Mr. Negroponte in as her deputy, and
officials in Washington speculated that the career diplomat might be
more comfortable returning to the State Department.
The White House press secretary, Tony Snow, declined to comment
on the change. "We don't comment on personnel matters until the
president has announced his intentions," Mr. Snow said in an e-mail
message Wednesday night.
Officials said one priority in replacing Mr. Negroponte had been to select
someone who could pass swiftly through the Senate confirmation process.
They also cautioned that the choice of Admiral McConnell was not final.
The job of deputy director of national intelligence is also vacant, and the
White House is conscious that a long nomination battle in the Senate,
where Democrats
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/d/democra
tic_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org> are now in the majority, could throw
the intelligence
office into disarray.
========
Mike McConnell - SVP Booz Allen Hamilton
http://www.boozallen.com/capabilities/Industries/industries_article/mcconnel
l
As Senior Vice President, Mike McConnell leads the firm's assignments in
Military Intelligence and Information Operations for the Department of
Defense,
the Unified Combatant Commanders, Military Services, and Defense Agencies.
Prior to joining Booz Allen, from 1992-1996, Mr. McConnell served as
Director
of the National Security Agency (NSA). He led NSA at the end of the Cold War
in addressing the agency's transformation to adapt to the multi-polar
threats
posed by the changing international environment. Under Mr. McConnell's
leadership, the NSA routinely provided global Intelligence and Information
Security Services to the President and his cabinet in addition to military
and civil departments and intelligence customers.
While serving as NSA's Director, Mr. McConnell was one of the first senior
officials to identify information assurance (IA) and information defense as
major strategic issues in our increasingly networked society. Mr.
McConnell's
discussions in Defense, the White House, Congress, and in industry in
1994 laid the foundation for significant changes initiated in 1998. In
addition,
he served as the Intelligence Officer (J-2) for the Chairman, Joint Chiefs
of
Staff (JCS-J2) during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Operation
DESERT STORM.
After joining Booz Allen, Mr. McConnell led the firm's support to the
Presidential
Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection (PCCIP), focusing on the
vulnerabilities of the banking and financial sector. He also led the firm's
support to development of Presidential Decision Directive 63 on
Critical Infrastructure Protection. Recently, Mr. McConnell has supported
the Department of Defense as responsibilities have been established for
Computer Network Defense and Computer Network Attack missions.
Mr. McConnell also has supported the U.S. Unified Combatant Commanders,
the Director of National Intelligence Agencies, and the Military Service
Intelligence Directors in such areas of transformation, IT, Horizontal
Integration, and improved analytics.
In addition to many military awards, Mr. McConnell holds the nation's
highest award for service in the intelligence community. He was also
named one of the top 25 most influential consultants by Consulting
Magazine, the leading trade publication for the consulting industry,
in early 2002.
Mr. McConnell received his B.A. in Economics from Furman University
and an M.P.A. in Government and Public Administration from George
Washington University. He has Masters Equivalents from the National
Defense University, Industrial College of the Armed Forces (Global
Telecoms) and the Defense Intelligence College (Strategic Intelligence).
===============================
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