And why does he deserve to be the next Director of the CIA?
According to Christy Hardin Smith at Firedoglake, George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week just broke the story that General Hayden, former head of the NSA, and the man who supervised Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program(s?) is going to be nominated to head the CIA to replace Porter Goss. That alone should send chills down your spine. A man willing to violate federal law on behalf of his President bespeaks volumes about where he places his deepest loyalties.
Here’s an excerpt from his official NSA bio:
Lieutenant General Michael V. Hayden, USAF, served as the Director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service (NSA/CSS), Fort George G. Meade, MD, from March 1999 to April 2005. As the Director of NSA and Chief of CSS, he was responsible for a combat support agency of the Department of Defense with military and civilian personnel stationed worldwide.
General Hayden entered active duty in 1969 after earning a bachelor’s degree in history in 1967 and a master’s degree in modern American history in 1969, both from Duquesne University. He is a distinguished graduate of the Reserve Officer Training Corps program. The General has served as Commander of the Air Intelligence Agency and Director of the Joint Command and Control Warfare Center, both headquartered at Kelly Air Force Base, TX. He has also served in senior staff positions in the Pentagon; Headquarters U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany; the National Security Council, Washington, DC; and the U.S. Embassy in the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. Prior to his current assignment, the General served as Deputy Chief of Staff for United Nations Command and U.S. Forces Korea, Yongsan Army Garrison.
The question that immediately comes to mind is why does Bush wish to nominate this USAF General to head up the CIA, a civilian intel agency? He has no experience in CIA proper. All his intelligence work has been with the US Military, or at NSA, which is solely concerned with electronic surveillance.
Furthermore, this is the guy who ran the NSA warrantless surveillance for Bush in violation of FISA. A man who has a slight problem with understanding the requirements of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, as this excerpt from his Wikipedia entry demonstrates:
Hayden received personal criticism for his role in the controversy when he spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on January 23, 2006 to defend the practice of warrantless surveillance. During the question and answer period following his speech, Hayden appeared to deny that a “probable cause” standard is contained in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which limits the government’s ability to conduct searches and, by extension, surveillance.
Knight Ridder reporter Jonathan Landay prefaced a question by noting that “the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution specifies that you must have probable cause to be able to do a search that does not violate an American’s right against unlawful searches and seizures.” Hayden responded: “No, actually–the Fourth Amendment actually protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure…. That’s what it says.” When Landay continued, “But does it not say probable–” Hayden said: “No. The amendment says…unreasonable search and seizure.”
In fact, the amendment refers to both “unreasonable searches and seizures” and “probable cause”:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Later, responding to Landay’s question, Hayden stated:
Just to be very clear–and believe me, if there’s any amendment to the Constitution that employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with, it’s the Fourth. And it is a reasonableness standard in the Fourth Amendment. And so what you’ve raised to me–and I’m not a lawyer, and don’t want to become one–what you’ve raised to me is, in terms of quoting the Fourth Amendment, is an issue of the Constitution. The constitutional standard is “reasonable.” And we believe–I am convinced that we are lawful because what it is we’re doing is reasonable.
The same man, as noted by Digby at Hullabaloo, who when asked this direct question at that very same National Press Club appearance . . .
[A]re you targeting us and people who politically oppose the Bush government, the Bush administration? Not a fishing net, but are you targeting specifically political opponents of the Bush administration?
. . . met his questioner’s query with stony silence, and then called on someone else, refusing to respond in any way as to whether political opponents of the Bush regime have been, or are being, targeted by the NSA. Not exactly the sort of person who I’m willing to trust to head up the CIA, though such unparalleled loyalty to President Bush no doubt makes him an administration favorite.
One thing we know for certain is that General Hayden is not fit to serve as the Director of the CIA, and that isn’t a slam against his abilities as an administrator or his professional background in intelligence. Any man who has overseen a massive illegal eavesdropping campaign against his fellow Americans merely at the whim of his “Commander in Chief” hasn’t shown sufficient loyalty to the only thing that should matter to anyone holding such a powerful position: the Law of the land as embodied in our country’s Constitution.
Let’s hope our Democratic Senators rise to the occasion and demand answers to these concerns, and filibuster his nomination if they don’t get the answers they, and we, the American people deserve. I say hope, because I have little faith at this point that Senate Democrats, other than Russ Feingold, will take the necessary steps needed to protect our Nation’s laws, and its citizens’ civil liberties, from the steamroller that is the Bush Imperial presidency. After so many disappointments, and so many scandals that have gone unpunished, hope is all I’ve got at this point.