Hayden Nominated to Head CIA

"I would point out that there have been several heads of the Central Intelligence Agency who have been military officers, Hadley said on "Good Morning America."

"There are officers serving in that agency. The question is not military versus civilian; the question is the best man for that job. And Mike Hayden really has that capacity.

"He's run a big organization. He knows how to transform a big organization. He's committed to the agenda of intelligence reform."

"And," said Hadley, "he's not just a military officer; he's had broad experience in the intelligence business. He's been involved in human intelligence, has been in an embassy overseas, which involves him in the overseas operations. He's served on the National Security Council staff in terms of the presidency of Bush 41," Hadley continued. "So this is a kind of broad-gauged guy, a change agent committed to reform, and he can really do great things for the country as head of the Central Intelligence Agency."

Republican chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence panels raised serious concerns Sunday about Hayden with Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, calling him "the wrong man at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Other Republicans and Democrats, appearing on Sunday talk shows, praised Hayden's credentials but said they, too, are troubled by President Bush's decision to place a military officer at the helm of a civilian intelligence agency. Hayden has defended Bush's domestic eavesdropping program, run by the NSA under Hayden's leadership, since its disclosure in December.

The challenges to Hayden's nomination come when Bush is politically at his weakest and Republicans are distancing themselves from the White House in the hopes of retaining their grip on Congress in the midterm elections.

White House officials said they would not shy away from a fight with Democrats over what Bush has termed a "terrorist surveillance program," if that becomes the focus of Hayden's hearings. With the country essentially divided on the effort, which has allowed the NSA to scan the calls and e-mails of more than 5,000 Americans, the president has more support on that issue than most others.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has fought to obtain more information about the program, which he has said he believes is operating outside the law.

Although Hayden is considered to be one of the most popular intelligence briefers on the Hill, Specter has said he has been frustrated by the amount of information Hayden has shared with the committee. As a result, Specter said, confirmation hearings should center on the legality of the program that Hayden designed and ran in secret after the Sept. 11 attacks.

At his news conference today, Negroponte corrected a reporter's characterization of that program.

"First of all, I wouldn't call it domestic spying," he said. "I mean, this is about international terrorism and telephone calls between people thought to be working for international terrorism and people here in the United States."

Thinking ahead to Hayden's confirmation hearing, Negroponte said: "It'd be fair to say that we expect quite a bit of questioning about this issue. But I believe that General Hayden will be very, very well equipped and very well prepared to answer any questions that might arise."

Asked if the United States is conducting warrantless wiretapes on "purely domestic calls," Negroponte said: "To the best of my knowledge, absolutely not."

Staff writer Dana Priest and Peter Baker contributed to this report.