Bush Taps Negroponte, McConnell for Posts

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 5, 2007 6:52 PM

President Bush today nominated veteran diplomat John D. Negroponte to the No. 2 post at the State Department and named retired Navy Adm. John M. "Mike" McConnell to replace him as director of national intelligence.

In a separate announcement later in the day, Bush accepted the recommendations of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to nominate two Army generals and a Navy admiral for key leadership posts, including command of U.S. forces in Iraq and the broader Middle East.

Gates recommended Gen. George W. Casey Jr., currently the top U.S. commander in Iraq, to become Army chief of staff, replacing Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, who is retiring. Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, now commander of the Army's Combined Arms Center in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., was put forward to replace Casey in Iraq. And Adm. William J. Fallon, currently head of the U.S. Pacific Command, was recommended to replace retiring Army Gen. John P. Abizaid as chief of the Central Command, which directs U.S. forces in the Middle East.

The three officers are subject to confirmation by the Senate.

In a statement released by the White House this afternoon, Bush called the three "accomplished military professionals whose experience, skill, and dedication will enable them to successfully lead our troops as they protect our country."

Formally announcing appointments that had already been reported in the news media, Bush called on the Senate this morning to confirm Negroponte and McConnell as quickly as possible so they can take up their "crucial positions."

Negroponte, 67, who started his career in 1960 as a junior foreign service officer in the Eisenhower administration, would become the deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice if -- as expected -- he is confirmed by the Senate. He was confirmed in April 2005 as the nation's first director of national intelligence by a vote of 98-2.

McConnell, 63, is a career intelligence professional who headed the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996. After his retirement from the Navy, he took a private-sector job as senior vice president of the Booz Allen Hamilton consulting firm. He stands to become the second director of national intelligence, a post created as a result of a broad reorganization that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In announcing the nominations in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Bush said the deputy secretary of state plays "a key role in shaping American foreign policy and in guiding our diplomats deployed around the globe," as well as in helping to manage the State Department and coordinate with other federal agencies.

"I have asked John Negroponte to serve in this vital position at this crucial moment," Bush said. In his more than four decades of service, Negroponte "has served our nation in eight Foreign Service posts, spanning three continents," Bush noted. Before becoming national intelligence director, he served as ambassador to the United Nations and was the first U.S. ambassador to Iraq following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

"John Negroponte's broad experience, sound judgment and expertise on Iraq and in the war on terror make him . . . a superb choice as deputy secretary of state," Bush said. "And I look forward to working with him in this new post."

He said McConnell "has the experience, the intellect and the character to succeed" as Negroponte's replacement in a post that determines the national intelligence budget, oversees the collection and analysis of intelligence and ensures that intelligence agencies share information.

"Admiral McConnell has decades of experience, ensuring that our military forces had the intelligence they need to fight and win wars," Bush said. Before serving as NSA director, he was the military intelligence officer for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Persian Gulf War.

"As DNI, Mike will report directly to me. And I am confident he will give me the best information and analysis that America's intelligence community can provide," Bush said.

He said he was also confident that the Senate would "see the value of these two serving in crucial positions, and I would hope that they would be confirmed as quickly as possible."

Negroponte said he leaves the DNI post "with regret" because of his respect for the thousands of intelligence professions who serve the country around the world.

But for a career foreign service officer, Negroponte told Bush, "the position . . . to which you are now nominating me is an opportunity of a lifetime."

He added, "It will be a great privilege for me to come home to the department where I began my career and rejoin a community of colleagues whose work is so important. . . ."

McConnell said his private-sector work during the past 10 years "has allowed me to stay focused on national security and intelligence communities as a strategist and as a consultant." In many respects, he said, "I never left" the intelligence business.

"I plan to continue the strong emphasis on integration of the community to better serve all of our customers," he said. "That will mean better sharing of information, increased focus on customer needs and service, improved security processes and deeper penetration of our targets to provide the needed information for tactical, operational and strategic decision-making."

After Bush's announcement and brief remarks by the two nominees as Rice and Vice President Cheney looked on, the group left without taking any questions from reporters.

In announcing his choices to lead the Army and U.S. forces in the Middle East and Iraq, Gates extolled the qualifications of Casey, Petraeus and Fallon while praising the officers they replace.

"There is no officer at this time better suited to be Army chief of staff than General George Casey," who previously served as vice chief of staff, Gates said in a statement. As the commander of Multi-National Forces - Iraq for 30 straight months, "he has overseen the largest sustained ground forces operation by the U.S. military in a generation," Gates said.

"General Casey knows first hand the capabilities the U.S. Army must have to succeed in the complex and unconventional campaigns of the 21st Century," he added.

He said he was also recommending the promotion of Petraeus to four-star rank and his nomination as Casey's successor. Calling Petraeus "one of the most dynamic and innovative leaders in the U.S. military" and "an expert in irregular warfare and stability operations," Gates praised his service as commander of the 101st Airborne Division in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Iraq's third largest, after the 2003 U.S. invasion.

In that role, Petraeus "oversaw a multifaceted program that within months established local government, restarted the local economy and stood up local security forces," Gates said. "He would later stay on in Iraq to launch and lead the coalition's program to train and equip Iraq's army and police."

As commander of the Pacific Command, "Admiral Fallon oversees military operations and security relationships in an area encompassing 43 countries and approximately 60 percent of the world's population," Gates said. He said Fallon's Asian tenure "has been characterized by an extraordinary level of innovation and strategic vision" and credited him with forging "new partnerships to help combat the influence of violent extremist networks and ideologies that threaten the moderate Muslim nations of the Pacific."

Gates called Fallon "one of the best strategic thinkers in uniform today" and "exactly the right person for this most challenging assignment."