While some are criticizing President Bush’s choice of Air Force General Michael Hayden to lead the C-I-A, Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell isn’t one of them.
Boswell, a democrat, is on the House Intelligence Committee. Boswell says he has a lot of confidence in Hayden, but says it’s appropriate that Hayden be asked some tough questions during his Senate confirmation hearing. “Is he capable, ” Boswell asks, “He’s a very capable person. I think he’s one of the better ones in the intelligence field that I’ve met really.”
General Hayden will replace Porter Goss who resigned as C-I-A director last week. Goss came into the job form the House Intelligence Committee where Boswell served with him. Boswell says some of Goss’ personnel moves may’ve led to his eventual resignation.
Boswell says Goss let a lot the experienced staff in the C-I-A go and took a lot of his staff from the House committee with him. Boswell says Goss lost a lot of expertise with those personnel moves and that raised concerns — but Boswell says he doesn’t know if that had anything to do with Goss’ eventual resignation.
Boswell says he likes the direction the intelligence agencies are taking with a joint leader. Boswell says they now have a joint headquarters and people are sharing information, so there’s not a situation where something happens and not all the agencies know about it. Boswell represents Iowa’s third district.