Hayden confirmed as CIA director

Congress members are hoping the new CIA head will keep them better informed.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, a career intelligence officer under whose watch the government expanded its ability to track private telecommunications, won easy Senate confirmation Friday to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Senate voted 78-15 in his favor, a strong bipartisan show of support despite lingering questions over the legality of the warrantless wiretaps carried out by the National Security Agency, which Hayden headed.
Hayden, 61, will become the first member of the military to run the CIA since Adm. Stansfield Turner 25 years ago. He replaces Porter Goss, a former Florida congressman who resigned his CIA post earlier this month after a stormy tenure and clashes with National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, the nation's top intelligence official.
Senators praised Hayden as an experienced hand and independent leader who would provide the president with unvarnished intelligence assessments.
They also held out the hope that the intelligence community would be more forthcoming under Hayden and keep Congress better informed about its activities.
"He's made clear his interest in an open and honest relationship with Congress and his respect for our oversight role," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said.
What was hard
For some senators, especially Democrats, a vote in favor of Hayden was especially difficult. The party's liberal wing has been especially critical of the NSA wiretapping program, which targeted phone calls between U.S. residents and suspected al-Qaida allies overseas. USA Today reported earlier this month that the NSA also kept records of millions of domestic calls, though it didn't listen in on them.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada offered an unusual 1,000-word statement explaining his support for Hayden and laying out the challenges facing the new director.
Reid called it "a travesty" that al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden remains at large. He said the CIA must lead efforts to understand the threats posed by Iran and North Korea. And he said Hayden should give the CIA "a global human intelligence capability" with a better understanding of cultures and languages.
"Based on everything I have seen, I am hopeful he is up to the task," Reid said. "And I am hopeful this administration will let him do the job for which it nominated him."
Specter's vote
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who has quarreled with the administration over his inability to obtain information about the eavesdropping program, was the only Republican to vote against Hayden, who's a native of Pittsburgh.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Specter said he cast a no vote as a protest "against the administration's policy of not informing the Congress, with special emphasis on the Judiciary Committee, in a way which enables the Congress and the Judiciary Committee to do our constitutional job on oversight." Specter is the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman.