US Senate panel clears McConnell for top spy job

[Ron Burgundy]

AFP - The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has unanimously backed the nomination of retired vice admiral Michael McConnell as Director of National Intelligence.

"Admiral McConnell is the right person for the job," committee chairman John Rockefeller (news, bio, voting record) said in a statement.

"He knows how important intelligence is and he understands the threats facing our country," the Democratic Senator for West Virginia.

"Admiral McConnell is an outstanding professional whose experience will be extremely valuable to our country," said committee Vice Chairman Christopher Bond (news, bio, voting record), Republican Senator for Missouri.

The confirmation of McConnell is expected to come before the full Senate as soon as possible.

If confirmed, McConnell will serve as the chief of all US intelligence services, and is likely to give President George W. Bush his daily briefing of threats to American security.

He will face the still-unfinished task of fusing the disparate agencies into an entity able to avoid the intelligence missteps seen in the failure to thwart the September 11, 2001 attacks.

McConnell was named as part of a shake-up of the national security establishment and will take over from John Negroponte, who was picked to become deputy secretary of state.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070207/pl_afp/usintelligencecongress [link]