Intelligence Pick Says He’D Fight Manipulation

By Richard Willing

WASHINGTON — President Bush’s pick for director of national intelligence told senators Thursday that he’ll blow the whistle on the president or any other official who tries to skew intelligence reports for political purposes.

“There have been a number of occasions in my career when I had to not be popular but to speak truth to power,” J. Michael McConnell told the Senate Intelligence Committee at a hearing on his nomination.

“I’ve lived it, I’ve learned it, I believe it and I can only tell you that’s what I’ll do,” he said.

McConnell’s comments came as committee Democrats, including Ron Wyden of Oregon and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, repeated now-familiar charges that the Bush administration had “cherry picked” intelligence about threats posed by Iraq in 2003.

If confirmed, McConnell said, he would inform committee members if that occurs.

McConnell was nominated last month to replace John Negroponte as the overseer of all 16 federal agencies that collect or analyze intelligence. The 2-year-old position was created as part of changes recommended by a presidential commission that examined government failures that preceded the 9/11 attacks.

On other issues, McConnell promised to:

*Review security rules from the World War II and Cold War eras that make it difficult for intelligence agencies to hire foreign-language specialists whose families include non-citizens.

*Consider a first-of-its-kind audit of spending by individual agencies.

*Not use outside contractors in sensitive jobs such as interrogators.

*Support the committee’s attempts to get documents that would test conclusions of intelligence agencies.

McConnell, 63, served 29 years as a Navy intelligence officer, including serving as intelligence officer to the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. From 1992 until his retirement in 1996, McConnell directed the National Security Agency, which performs satellite spying as well as electronic surveillance. (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.