The Daily Background

The LA Times on Hayden:

Ignoring opposition from Congress, President Bush nominated Gen. Michael V. Hayden on Monday to be the next CIA director, setting the stage for a confirmation struggle that is certain to focus on Hayden’s military background and his role in a controversial domestic eavesdropping operation.

[…]
But Hayden, who for six years was director of the National Security Agency, is also associated with almost every intelligence issue that has become a problem for the administration — including the failure to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks, misjudgments about weapons programs in Iraq, and eavesdropping on U.S. residents without court warrants.

[…]
During his tenure, the NSA invested billions of dollars in computer systems that failed to deliver expected results. The agency also intercepted Al Qaeda warnings — including a Sept. 10, 2001, boast that “Tomorrow is zero hour” — but failed to translate them until it was too late.

General Michael Hayden: over-spender, underachiever. On the note of over-spending, TPM Muckraker contributes the following:

In short, Gorman found that between 1999 and 2005, the NSA bungled two key technology programs and an important oversight effort. As a result, “The agency has been gradually ‘going deaf,’ as unimportant communications drown out key pieces of information,” an official told Gorman. Meanwhile, the secretive agency has been burning through billions — billions — of dollars.

[…]
Here’s the kicker: Because of the failures under Hayden, the NSA actually lost authority. Congress was so upset by these techno-screwups and cost overruns that it stripped the agency of the power to sign its own big-ticket contracts — and gave it to the Department of Defense. This is the guy who’s going to strengthen the CIA’s hand against the Pentagon?

Head over to TPM for a detailed description of three very expensive programs Hayden approved of, that turned out to be a colossal waste of our tax money.

Filed under: Hayden, Z-TDB Blog