Hayden a Rumsfeld Stooge or Rice Ally?

The announcement has not been made yet, but it looks like Gen. Michael Hayden will be nominated to head the CIA after Porter Goss's abrupt departure. The Washington Post has a rather sophomoric article dithering about Hayden's non-conformist MOs "despite his military background," as if the military were tin-soldiers moved about at the whims of their superiors.

Two Republicans who might cause problems are the head of the House Intelligence Committee and the spotlight-seeking Arlen Specter, always trying to outdo Chuck Schumer as the most ridiculous mike-aholic on the Hill.

Hayden's investiture hearings will, of course, bring to the fore the NSA wiretapping of Americans and illegal aliens living in America suspected of being in contact with Al-Qaeda, a civil liberties issue for the paranoid left and their MSM allies.

However, this will also bring into the spotlight the efforts of the Administration to fight terrorist attempts to replicate 9/11 or at least to pull off a Madrid or London mass mayhem black eye on America and its feckless flatfooted inability to even protect itself, let alone its allies, against fanatical suicidal terrorism. The MSM wants to treat the whole problem as a fight against crime and criminals, not a global war on terrorism and an alien ideology of religious conquest.

Hayden might resign his four-star commission to take on the job. He will gratify the senior CIA officials with his appointment, the article notes, as he is well-placed to defend CIA turf against Goliath Rumsfeld and his Pentagon Empire-Builders. However, Negroponte appears to be the new Rumsfeld on the block, and is snatching CIA counterterrorist assets to staff his own CTU [shades of 24!] in the Negroponte crusade to actually make his new job meaningful and effective.

Hayden gets on well with Negroponte and has worked with Rice in the NSC. He just might be the right fellow to get the CIA back into forward gear after the WMD debacle under Tenet and Goss's "Gosslings'" deconstruction and destruction of senior CIA operational staff.

Ed Morrissey believes the Congressional Hearings are going to be the GWB Gettysburg in the GWOT:

....conservatives will appreciate Hayden and rally to support his nomination. Picking a fight with the Democrats gives the White House yet another argument to paint Democrats as soft on national security, hoping that the solid majority in favor of the NSA intercept program will eventually wear his opposition down once and for all.

The Democrats, on the other hand, hope to force Hayden to issue enough refusals to answer questions and keep the answers he does provide so vague as to wear down that majority support -- and with it, Bush's base of support for the war itself. That's the risk that Bush runs with the appointment of Hayden, and with Feingold on the committee, the risk is real enough. If Feingold begins to get traction during these hearings, more Democrats will start calling for further hearings on the NSA and Bush. If not, he can kiss his presidential aspirations goodbye.

This hearing will have much more impact and volatility than the Alito and Roberts hearings. Much more rides on its outcome than a judicial confirmation. The result will likely determine the course of the November elections, the next President, and the future of the war on terror. Hopefully the White House really understands these stakes.

Finally, the Post's reporters on this article, Peter Baker and Dafna Linzner, provide a laugh when they mischaracterize the nature of the turf war taking place in the American intelligence community. The article says that Congress will be concerned with Hayden's appointment in terms of the reach Donald Rumsfeld has in the intel services. Hayden's appointment would put a military man at the head of all the intel services, but the real story here is the expansion of influence by John Negroponte, not Rumsfeld. Congress may have its issues with Rumsfeld, but they have openly debated cutting off funds to the DNI to keep him from what they consider empire-building. They will have concern with turf wars and Hayden's appointment, but Rumsfeld won't be the problem they wish to resolve.