Hayden Faces Senate and CIA Hurdles if Named

But, said this and several other officials, it would be a mistake to put someone in uniform in charge of a civilian agency. Officials close to Hayden suggested that the four-star general might retire from the military to alleviate those concerns. "It would be a symbolic gesture that would go a long way in painting him as a civilian, rather than another Pentagon man, taking over," one official said.

Should Hayden be nominated, Vice Adm. Albert M. Calland III, the CIA's deputy director, is expected to be replaced by a former senior CIA officer from the clandestine service who is now in government outside the agency, according to former senior intelligence officials who have been contacted about the appointment but were sworn to secrecy. "The agency and particularly the DO [Directorate of Operations, the clandestine service] will be happy with this choice," one former senior official said yesterday.

A major test for Hayden would be how he handles Rumsfeld. In their views of the nature of contemporary war, the two men are aligned. "High-quality intelligence is the American 21st-century version of mass," Hayden said in 2003. "With it, we have replaced mass on the battlefield with knowledge and precision."

But in recent years, Hayden has clashed with the defense secretary over organizational and bureaucratic issues.

When intelligence restructuring legislation was before Congress in 2004, Hayden and James R. Clapper Jr., then head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, told Congress that their organizations, which collect electronic intelligence and analyze imagery, should be under the proposed Director of National Intelligence for budgets and direction, and not under the defense secretary, as they were.

Rumsfeld was unhappy with their views and let them know it. Soon after, Clapper left, and Hayden became deputy director of national intelligence, under John D. Negroponte.

"How will Hayden deal with the land-grabbing from the Pentagon?" asked a former CIA station chief. "That's going to be the real fight."

Hayden probably would be aided by his relationship with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, with whom he worked on the staff of the National Security Council in the George H.W. Bush administration, from 1989 to 1991. Hayden also would benefit from his rapport with Negroponte.

Staff writer Walter Pincus and researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.