Mike Levin: “General Hayden's nomination for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency comes at a critical time. The Agency is in…”

“General Hayden's nomination for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency comes at a critical time. The Agency is in disarray. Its current Director has apparently been forced out, and the previous Director, George Tenet, departed under a cloud after having compromised his own objectivity and independence and that of his Agency by misusing Iraq intelligence to support the administration's policy agenda. The next Director must right this ship and restore the CIA to its critically important mission. I will vote to confirm General Hayden because his actions have demonstrated on a number of important occasions the independence and strength of character needed to fulfill the most important role of the CIA Director--independence and a willingness to speak truth to power about the intelligence assessments of professionals in the intelligence community. This nomination has been considered by me on two key issues: One, whether or not General Hayden will be independent--and I believe he will--and two, what judgment should be rendered about him based on what is known about the National Security Agency's surveillance program which he administered during his tenure as Director of the NSA. Again, the highest priority of the new Director must be to ensure that intelligence provided to the President and the Congress is objective and independent of political considerations.…”