Bush Names Negroponte as New Intelligence Chief By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) on Thursday nominated John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq (news - web sites), to fill the new position of director of national intelligence.
"The director's responsibility is straightforward and demanding. John will make sure those whose duty it is to defend America have the information we need to make the right decisions," Bush said.
He also said Negroponte's role would be to "lead a unified community" and that the CIA (news - web sites) director would report to him.
Negroponte, a surprise choice who had been ambassador to Baghdad for less than a year, met Bush at the White House this week.
The newly created intelligence chief position will oversee 15 U.S. intelligence agencies and emerged as a central recommendation of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks last year.
The new intelligence chief also will give Bush his daily intelligence briefing and must be confirmed by the Senate.
Some critics had said the definition of the new job was too vague to attract qualified candidates.
The new intelligence director could face struggles similar to those confronted by the Department of Homeland Security, which was also created in response to the Sept. 11 attacks and had a difficult time combining a number of government agencies.