WASHINGTON — President Bush on Thursday nominated the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, John D. Negroponte, to serve as the nation's first director of national intelligence, selecting a veteran diplomat to oversee a historic restructuring of the U.S. intelligence community after a string of catastrophic failures.
If confirmed by the Senate, Negroponte would be given sweeping new powers over an often fractious constellation of 15 spy agencies. But he also would be given the daunting responsibility of solving problems that contributed to the intelligence community's failures to foresee the Sept. 11 attacks or accurately assess whether Iraq had illicit weapons programs before the U.S. launched a preemptive war.
Negroponte, 65, was something of a surprise pick. His name was not among more than half a dozen people who had been the focus of speculation since the job of intelligence director was created in landmark legislation last year. Negroponte has never held a high-level intelligence job or worked in any of the agencies he would supervise.
But Bush said Negroponte understood "America's global intelligence needs because he spent the better part of his life in our foreign service." He promised to give his nominee ample authority and backing.
Bush said Negroponte would "determine the annual budgets for all national intelligence agencies" and direct how those funds were spent. Bush also said that Negroponte would be his "primary briefer" and would have complete control over the extent to which the heads of the various intelligence agencies would have access to the Oval Office.
Bush's comments were clearly intended to bolster the standing of a job that had gone unfilled for two months in part because of questions about the scope of its authority. His remarks also hinted at the magnitude of the changes in store, making it clear that the so-called DNI would be his principal intelligence advisor, ending an arrangement that has lasted more than 50 years in which the CIA director coordinated the activities of other spy agencies and was often part of the president's innermost circle.
Despite Bush's reassurances, officials and experts said ambiguities still existed that could undermine the director -- mainly questions over how readily he can move funds, equipment and personnel from one agency to another, or from one intelligence target to another. But lawmakers from both parties said Bush's comments sent a strong signal.
