Fill CIA post soon, senators say

By Hope Yen
The Associated Press

Sen. Pat Roberts chairs Intelligence Committee.

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George Tenet, who announced in early June that he was resigning for personal reasons, left the agency yesterday after seven years as director. His deputy, John McLaughlin, took over as acting director.

Tenet's departure came two days after the committee concluded the CIA provided unfounded assessments of the threat posed by Iraq that the Bush administration relied on to justify going to war.

"An acting director for the next six or seven months, during such a dangerous period for the United States, with all of these talks about attacks on the United States, is not acceptable," said West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the committee's top Democrat.

The chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts, said McLaughlin's ability to lead is limited as acting director even though he is "very skilled" and brings a lot of experience to the job.

	Sen. Jay Rockefeller is the Intelligence Committee's ranking Democrat.

"I hope the administration will send somebody up," said Roberts, R-Kan. "It will have to be an extraordinary nominee. If that's the case, we will go full time into the hearings to get him or her confirmed."

Committee members appearing on Sunday talk shows discussed several possible nominees: Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.; House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla.; and former Navy Secretary John Lehman, a member of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

The White House gave no indication yesterday about when Bush would name a permanent director.

"Acting director McLaughlin is a strong and capable leader," said Erin Healy, a White House spokeswoman. "The president will make a decision on a new CIA director in due course."

Federal officials said last week that intelligence from militant-linked Web sites and elsewhere indicated al-Qaida wants to attack the United States to disrupt the upcoming elections.

The government is putting in place elaborate security plans for the political conventions this summer in Boston and New York. Also, officials are considering how to secure polling places come November. A strengthened CIA is needed to help execute such security measures, Rockefeller said.

"I think that John McLaughlin is trying to make some changes, but making changes in the CIA after a 50-year history of Cold War operations and mentality is a very tough thing to bring about," he said. "We have to do a better job."

Roberts and Rockefeller clashed over whether administration officials had pressured intelligence analysts to reach predetermined conclusions on the Iraq threat. The White House's role will be examined in a second phase of the committee's investigation, which probably will not be finished before the election.

Rockefeller said the administration should be held partly accountable for what he considered to be an undue interest in invading Iraq after the Sept. 11 attacks. The war led to "the lowest standing of the United States in our history around the world," he added.

Roberts said the White House should not be blamed.

"The information that was provided to the president and to the Congress ... was flawed," he said.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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