http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HE10Aa01.htmlWASHINGTON - Monday's nomination by US President George W Bush of air force General Michael Hayden to take over the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the hapless Porter Goss has predictably intensified speculation over what is really going on behind the scenes.
Most analysts see the shifts as the latest battle between the director of national intelligence (DNI), John Negroponte, and Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld in the war over control of the multiple functions of the United States' sprawling, US$40-billion-a-year intelligence community.
But opinion appears deeply divided over which bureaucratic titan will emerge as this round's winner, although few doubt that the unceremonious dismissal of a CIA director who served less than 20 months on the job - particularly by a president who has proved dogged in retaining loyal servants despite strong evidence of their incompetence - is filled with portent
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But he is likely to be remembered chiefly for his "Gosslings", Republican political operatives he brought with him from the House, whose main purpose was to purge senior officers whose loyalty to their tradecraft appeared greater than to the policy priorities of the Bush administration, particularly in the Middle East.
By the time of his abrupt resignation last week, some 16 top officers, including one director and two deputy directors, with a combined 300 years of intelligence experience, had fled, leaving "the agency in free fall", according to Goss's former Democratic colleague on the Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman
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Some critics - already concerned about Hayden's understanding of constitutional protections against warrantless searches and seizures - also point to reports that he has become a favorite of Vice President Dick Cheney, the administration's strongest advocate of a virtually all-powerful wartime executive.
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Yep people he is a Cheney Man...