ブッシュ米大統領は、ジョン・ネグロポンテ国家情報長官（John Negroponte）を、ライス国務長官に次ぐ国務省ナンバー２の国務副長官に指名した。それにともない、後任の国家情報長官には、元国家安全保障局（NSA、National Security Agency）局長のマイク・マコネル退役海軍中将（Mike McConnell）を指名した。
米国務副長官にネグロポンテ氏 イラク新政策に本腰 [Yahoo! ニュース／産経新聞]
ネグロポンテ氏は、駐イラク大使を経て、２００５年から米中央情報局（ＣＩＡ）など情報機関を統括する新設の国家情報長官を務めていた。国務副長官就任は格下ポストへの異動となるが、外交官出身の同氏が古巣の国務省に戻ることを強く希望していた。
ブッシュ政権は、来週公表見通しのイラク政策で、軍の短期増派に加えて武装組織の処理を含むイラク安定化への政治工作をめざす構え。ネグロポンテ氏のこれまでの実績に加え、同氏が比較的速やかに議会承認の期待できる人物であることも、起用の理由となったもようだ。
後任の国家情報長官には、国家安全保障局（ＮＳＡ）の局長を務めたマコーネル氏が指名される見通しだ。同氏は湾岸戦争当時、統合参謀本部付きの情報機関長などを歴任した。
NBCによると、マコネル氏は国防総省出身で、1992年から96年までNSA局長。湾岸戦争時には統合参謀本部の情報部門トップを務め、チェイニー副大統領の信頼が厚いという。
Profile: Michael McConnell [BBC NEWS]
He led the agency from 1992 to 1996 - an era of rapid technological advances and drastic budget cuts.
Encryption technology developed during his tenure has been used to protect sensitive US electronic communications from enemy hackers.
海外メディアでは、『ブルームバーグ』も『ガーディアン』も『ニューヨーク・タイムズ』も「スパイ」という言葉が踊っていて、楽しい（笑）。
Bush Names Negroponte, McConnell to State, Spy Posts [Bloomberg]
McConnell served as head of the National Security Agency under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Bush Nominates Top Spy, Moves Negroponte [Guardian]
McConnell spent more than a quarter-century as an intelligence operations and security officer and caught the attention of then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell during the first Persian Gulf War. He regularly briefed the two as an intelligence officer for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and is known as someone who can distill complicated information into coherent presentations, said Matthew Aid, a historian who studies the National Security Agency.
McConnell was tapped to lead U.S. eavesdropping efforts as director of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996.
Bush Appoints New Spy Chief and Sends the Current One Back to the Diplomatic World [NY Times]
To succeed Mr. Negroponte, Mr. Bush, as expected, named a retired admiral, Mike McConnell, who has had extensive experience in the collection and analysis of intelligence.
“He served as director of the National Security Agency in the 1990’s,” Mr. Bush said. “He was the intelligence officer for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the liberation of Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm.”
Although he has been a private consultant for the last decade, Mr. McConnell said he had stayed in touch with intelligence agencies and issues.
His work, he said, “has allowed me to stay focused on national security and intelligence communities as a strategist and as a consultant. Therefore, in many respects, I never left.”
New US intelligence chief named [BBC NEWS]
BBC world affairs correspondent Nick Childs says the reshuffle puts fresh faces into key positions, perhaps helping to mask the fact that the actual policy changes Mr Bush is expected to unveil may not be as radical as many would like.
[関連エントリー]
