After more than six hours of sometimes-tense Senate questioning, the confirmation of Michael Hayden to head the CIA still appeared assured.
The four-star Air Force general tried to look forward throughout the long day of grilling, even as senators repeatedly returned to controversies over the eavesdropping work he directed as National Security Agency (NSA) head from 1999 until last year.
The CIA needs to look ahead, he said.
"It's time to move past what seems to me to be an endless picking apart of the archaeology of every past intelligence success or failure," Hayden told the Senate Intelligence Committee at his confirmation hearing on Thursday. "The CIA needs to get out of the news -- as source or subject -- and focus on protecting the American people."
Hayden said he would focus on traditional spycraft and reward risk-taking among the CIA's operatives in the clandestine service. He'd push analysts to explain when they aren't sure of judgments, but be unafraid of hard-edged assessments. And he'd focus the agency's scientists, who once built a mechanical eavesdropping dragonfly, on developing technology to improve intelligence collection.
Republicans gushed over the nominee. "You're going to be one of America's best CIA directors, general," Republican Senator Chuck Hagel told Hayden.
But some Democrats voiced strong concerns. "General, having evaluated your words, I now have a difficult time with your credibility," said Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, who cross-examined him about his role in the NSA's post-Sept. 11 warrantless domestic surveillance program.
The White House hopes the Senate can approve Hayden as soon as next week, allowing him to step in as Porter Goss departs on May 26. Even with the tough questioning, Hayden appeared likely to be confirmed in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Hayden's plans for the CIA indicate that he is targeting flaws that have been highlighted repeatedly by commissions investigating Sept. 11, 2001, and the Iraq intelligence.
During Thursday's questioning, he vigorously defended the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program as a legal spy tool needed to ensnare terrorists. But he also acknowledged concerns about civil liberties within the program and others he oversaw at the NSA.
"Clearly, the privacy of American citizens is a concern -- constantly," he said. "It's a concern in everything we've done."
Hayden sought to portray himself as an independent thinker, capable of taking over the CIA as it struggles with issues ranging from nuclear threats to its place among 15 other spy agencies.
On the world's hot spots, Hayden acknowledged a series of intelligence failures in the run-up to the US decision to invade Iraq and promised to take steps to guard against a repeat of such errors.
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