University of South Carolina Libraries
Bush selects Negroponte as intelligence director By KATHERINE SHRADER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — President Bush on Thursday named John Negroponte, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and currently the administration’s top representative in Iraq, to be America’s first national intelligence director. Bush said that Negroponte understands global intelligence needs because he’s had a long career in the foreign service. Bush also said that Negroponte will make decisions on the budgets for the various intelligence agencies. “John will make sure that those whose duty it is to defend America have the information we need to make the right decisions,” the president said. Bush said Negroponte s orhce will be outside of the West Wing because it’s important that he be apart from the White House. “Nevertheless, he will have access on a daily basis in that he’ll be my primary briefer,” Bush said. Negroponte said if confirmed he plans to “reform of the intelligence community in ways designed to best meet the intelligence needs of the 21st century.” He called the new job “the most challenging assignment I have undertaken in more than 40 years of government service.” Said Bush: “He understands the power centers in Washington.” Bush named Lt. Gen. Mike Hayden, who has served as director of the National Security Agency since March 1999, as Negroponte’s deputy. He is the longest serving director of the secretive codebreaking agency and has pushed for changes, such as asking longtime agency veterans to retire and increasing reliance on technology contractors. “If we’re going to stop the • terrorists before they strike,” Bush said, “we must "ensure that our intelligence agencies work as a single, unified enterprise.” Discussing the authority that Negroponte will have, Bush said that “people who control the money, people who have access to the president generally have a lot of influence. And that’s why John Negroponte is going to have a lot of influence. He will set the budgets.” Bush said he had not received any preliminary findings from the commission that’s investigating failures of prewar intelligence — headed by former Sen. Chuck Robb, R-Va., and Republican Laurence Silberman — which is expected to issue a final report next month. Negroponte, 65, was at the United Nations when he was tapped to take on the delicate job of transforming the U.S. presence in Iraq from that of an occupier to that of an adviser. Bush chose him for the job last April and he went to Baghdad hours after the handover of sovereignty to Iraq’s interim government. Negroponte has also been ambassador to the Philippines, Mexico and Honduras. According to one well-informed administration official, former CIA director Robert Gates was Bush’s first choice but Gates and some other candidates declined the post. They worried that the legislation establishing the intelligence job was too vague in outlining its authority, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. White House Chief of Staff Andy Card denied reports that the White House had had a difficult time in finding someone to accept the new position. “I’m impressed with how much bad information people have — that people have been offered the job and turned it down,” Card said. “It’s just not true.” The Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington were the impetus for legislation passed by Congress and signed by Bush, creating the new position. The bill represented the most sweeping intelligence legislation in over 50 years. The director of national intelligence will hold a pre-eminent role in U.S. national security affairs and coordinate the work of all 15 U.S. intelligence agencies. In a statement, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Pat Roberts of Kansas, said he was pleased by the selection of Negroponte and Hayden. “Both have significant national security and intelligence backgrounds. When the ambassador called me this morning, he told me he looks forward to appearing before the committee for his confirmation hearing and seeking our advice as we move forward with the new intelligence reform legislation,” Roberts said. “We will hold the ambassadors’ confirmation hearing as soon as his duties in Iraq are completed.” Roberts spokeswoman Sarah Little said Negroponte told the senator he would need to return to Iraq to tie up issues there. Little said that Roberts believes the confirmation may be weeks away. As ambassador to the United Nations, Negroponte helped win unanimous approval of a Security Council resolution that demanded Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein comply with U.N. mandates to disarm. Negroponte worked to expand the role for international security forces in Afghanistan after the overthrow of the Taliban government Negroponte’s confirmation to the United Nations post was delayed a half-year mostly because of criticism of his record as the U.S. ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985. In Honduras, he played a prominent role in assisting the Contras in Nicaragua in their war with the left wing Sandinista government. Human rights groups alleged that Negroponte acquiesced in human rights abuses by Honduran death squads funded and partly trained by the CIA. Negroponte testified during the hearings for the U.N-post that he did not believe death squads were operating in Honduras. In the past year, the intelligence community has been faced with a series of negative reports, including the work of the Sept. 11 commission and the Senate Intelligence Committee’s inquiry on the flawed Iraq intelligence. RON EDMONDS/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS John Negroponte,, right, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, speaks after President Bush announced Negroponte would be the nation’s first new national intelligence director, in a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the the White House on Thursday in Washington. The director will oversee 15 separate intelligence agencies including the C.I.A. ■ REJUVENATE Continued from page 1 life-shaping learning experience, he said. “The world and the U.S. never look the same if someone really gets engaged in another culture in another place,” he said. “I think that if we’re open to that, it changes us. It makes us look at this society and culture and politics differently. It can do that for the rest of our lives.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu \ ■ SEDERBERG Continued from page 1 scholarship. Despite the college’s successes, Sederberg said there were a number of challenges feeing its goal of greater enrollment, notably South Carolina’s limited higher education budget. “We are threatened like every department at USC in that the university has burdened austere budgets on the back of students without getting state support,” Sederberg said. “This directly hurts the Honors College too.” Sederberg said that with the adoption of research-based learning initiatives, the Honors College is under pressure to prove the system can work while “always evolving.” He suggested that the pressure could be alleviated by outside faculty aiding honors students in their other classes, a project that might be difficult considering the number of educators involved. Sederberg said the college’s enrollment was growing faster than its faculty, which presents a problem. “Increasing the size of the Honors College makes that worse, he said. To stay in the S.C. Honors College, a participating student must maintain a 3.3 GPA, Sederberg said, a goal some students have trouble with, but which most surpass. Despite the college’s prestige, officials still struggle with dropout rates of between 13 percent and 20 percent, Sederberg said. “Every student faces (the choice to leave), and it is part of the experience,” he said. Despite his imminent departure and the current challenges facing the school, Sederberg said he feels confident about the leadership of the university and the future of the college he helped start. Comments on this story? E-mail i gamecocknews@gwm.sc. f lu JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK SG runoff elections are being held for both president and treasurer. Tommy Preston is running for treasurer. ■ CAMPAIGNING Continued from page 1 The 2005 campaign trail was littered with motions for violations, and Williams said it has taken away form the election and possibly damaged the process in general. “Is this election about the students of USC or about me not letting you win?” Williams asked. Miller said the race is about the issues. “I have a lot of good ideas, and I really do feel like I am the best candidate for the job,” Miller said. Both have campaigned for the position, and the only step that remains for USC’s student body is to choose a victor. Assistant News Editor Kelly Cavanaugh contributed to this report Comments on this stoiy? E-mail gamecocbiews@gwm.sc. edn ^^dl^y&Me^oiimvB^^Jr-s |^T $700 roundtrip * /' "\ Auckland from $783 \ ''jSfW Faros are roundtrip from LAX & subject to change. Taxes are additional. K Depart 4/24-6/09/05 & stay up to 1 year! Roundtrip student & youth Airfare Sale uiith the Travel GUTS ^TRAVEL CUTS 800-592-cuTS (2887) I See the world your way .r*.:. " : ' * " «*• * < What’s your scholarship? Find your scholarship opportunities at our re-launched Scholarship Channel. i Visit www.dailygamecock.com powered by: BrekeScM&r i