WASHINGTON, 9 May 2006 — President George W. Bush yesterday nominated Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden as CIA chief, setting up a battle with some members of the US Congress who oppose having a military man head the civilian spy agency.

“He’s the right man to lead the CIA at this critical moment in our nation’s history,” Bush said in making the announcement with Hayden at his side in the Oval Office.

Hayden, 61, would replace Porter Goss, who was forced to resign on Friday after a contentious tenure at the CIA marked by an exodus of senior officials and tensions with the national director of intelligence, John Negroponte.

The nominee is set to face tough Senate questioning, particularly on his leading role in an eavesdropping program assailed by critics as a violation of civil rights, but White House officials were confident he would win confirmation.

Bush, who is attempting to rebound from sagging poll numbers, noted that the Senate had unanimously confirmed Hayden last year to become deputy director of national intelligence and called on senators to confirm him again promptly.

“Mike knows our intelligence community from the ground up. He has been both a provider and a consumer of intelligence,” Bush said. In brief remarks, Hayden said he hoped to answer any concerns about him from Congress.

“In the confirmation process, I look forward to meeting with the leaders of the Congress, better understanding their concerns and working with them to move the American intelligence community forward,” he said.

Senators have said they would use the confirmation hearings to learn more about the program of warrantless eavesdropping on Americans’ international phone calls and e-mails in pursuit of terrorism suspects.

Bush, who has said Hayden was the one who proposed the program after the Sept. 11 attacks, defends it as essential to fighting terrorism.

Calls to Quit Military

Some Congress members, including some in Bush’s Republican Party, have said a general heading the CIA could give the Pentagon too much sway over US intelligence gathering. Others have said he is too close to the White House and lacks experience building a clandestine service.

“It sends the wrong signal,” Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican who heads the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee but who will have no say in the Senate vote, told CNN on Sunday. “I’m not sure he can adapt.”

Negroponte said he was aware of recommendations by some lawmakers that Hayden retire from the military, but that concerns the Pentagon would be taking over intelligence operations were “unfounded.”

Hayden “is a very, very independent-minded person,” Negroponte said.

Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley told NBC’s “Today” show there was no reason for Hayden to quit the military, noting that several military men had led the CIA.

Bush insider Harriet Miers fail to gain senators’ support to become a Supreme Court justice last autumn, but administration officials were confident the president would not be dealt another setback with Hayden’s nomination.

“He is exceptionally well qualified and a proven leader when it comes to reforming the intelligence community,” a senior official said, saying Hayden helped rebuild morale at the NSA after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The CIA lost clout when it fell under a newly created director of national intelligence as part of reforms in response to intelligence failures over the Sept. 11 attacks.

Tensions between Negroponte and Goss grew as the new intelligence arm sought to assert itself over the CIA and met opposition from the spy agency.

Rick Russell, a former CIA analyst who teaches strategic studies at National Defense University, said a military man in the top CIA job sent the wrong message.

“One of the big reasons for the creation of a director of national intelligence has been to exert more civilian leadership over the intelligence community,” he said. “And yet you put an active duty officer in charge of the gem of civilian intelligence. That cuts at cross-purposes, frankly.”