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Rumsfeld Defends Choice for C.I.A. Chief DAVID STOUT / NY Times | May 10 2006 WASHINGTON, May 9 — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld laughingly dismissed speculation today that the Central Intelligence Agency might lose its independence if Gen. Michael V. Hayden is confirmed as its new director. Mr. Rumsfeld alluded to "theoretical conspiracies" and "theoretical turf fights" when he was asked to comment on the reaction to President Bush's nomination of the Air Force general, reaction that has included skepticism among some Republicans about whether General Hayden is a wise choice. But Mr. Rumsfeld acted as though such reaction, and news accounts of it, were baseless. When he was asked outright if the Pentagon were trying to gain greater control over intelligence collection or analysis, he gave the kind of answer that people who follow his briefings have come to expect. "The short answer is no, we're not," he said. "The better answer, the more complete answer, would be that the quality of the debate on this subject is pedestrian and unimpressive." The secretary said he had enjoyed good relationships with General Hayden and with John D. Negroponte, the national intelligence director, as well as with the two most recent C.I.A. chiefs, Porter J. Goss, who resigned under pressure last week, and George J. Tenet. "There's no power play taking place in Washington," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "People can run around and find somebody who will tell them almost anything they want. But it's interesting how little facts ever get attached to any of these thumbsuckers that get printed in the press." When asked about comments by Representative Peter Hoekstra, the Michigan Republican who heads the House Intelligence Committee, that General Hayden was the wrong man for the C.I.A. job, Mr. Rumsfeld called Mr. Hoekstra "a thoughtful person." "He's knowledgeable, and the president obviously came to a different conclusion," Mr. Rumsfeld said. As a member of the House, Mr. Hoekstra has no direct role in the confirmation process. But Senator Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee and will have a role in the process, has also expressed some reservations about General Hayden. Mr. Rumsfeld said General Hayden was highly qualified. The secretary conceded that he and the general had differed on whether to move the National Security Agency from the Defense Department to the office of Mr. Negroponte. General Hayden wanted to shift the N.S.A., but Mr. Rumsfeld succeeded in keeping it under Pentagon control. But Mr. Rumsfeld acted as though questions about past disagreements between him and General Hayden were not only off the mark but not even worth asking. "Oh, let's get right down into the minutiae," he said. "Won't that be fun?" As for changes in the intelligence bureaucracy since the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Rumsfeld described the evolution as "a collegial and open process," nothing like the bureaucratic struggles described in the news media. Mr. Rumsfeld is, by all accounts, a hard-driving and demanding boss, nearly 74 but with the energy of a man decades younger. And despite his laughing disdain over accounts of bureaucratic turf battles, he is no stranger to them. ---------------------------------------------------
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