Negroponte's leaving won't go unnoticed
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

The principal lesson learned in the aftermath of 9/11 was that the United States needed a central gathering place for intelligence. That place, unlike the CIA, had to avoid turf battles with spy agencies controlled by the Pentagon, and its director had to have the ear and confidence of the president.

Toward that end, President Bush nominated John Negroponte, former ambassador to Iraq, as the first national intelligence director.

Less than two years after his appointment, however, Negroponte is leaving the intelligence post to become deputy secretary of state.

His departure from the intelligence job poses several possibilities:

Negroponte, a career diplomat, was ill-suited for and unhappy in the job of giving the president unbiased information without a recommendation on policy.

His replacement, retired Vice Adm. J. Michael O'Connell, will have to move swiftly to make up for lost time.

The intelligence chief performed his job well and resisted the desires of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney that he provide more alarming assessments of Iran's nuclear ambitions and more positive predictions of victory in Iraq.

For his trouble, he is being replaced.

Ostensibly in charge of the entire intelligence community, the national intelligence director cannot control agency budgets and spending, rendering him powerless to guide and improve intelligence gathering.

Negroponte's departure, then, will have little consequence.

Negroponte made a good start at reforming the intelligence community, but 20 months is barely enough time to memorize the names of the 16 U.S. spy agencies and master the details of their $40 billion annual budget.

O'Connell, former head of the National Security Agency, likely will have no more time than that to master the job.

The least likely scenario is that Negroponte completed his assignment, ended turf wars, initiated generous sharing of intelligence and is now being transferred to the State Department to reshape U.S. policy toward Iraq.

Negroponte created another layer of 1,500 intelligence bureaucrats, which can't be good for the swift forwarding of secrets to the president.

As for coordinating policy on Iraq, the president has few options, and Bush seems reluctant to choose any of them except an increase in troop strength.

Also worrisome, Negroponte's departure leaves all intelligence agencies, including the civilian CIA, headed by members or former members of the military. Careers spent at the Pentagon, which seeks to classify public documents, do not induce the impulse to share information.