"Bush Nominates Negroponte to New Intel Post" (from ATSNN), page 1

President Bush named John Negroponte, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and currently the administration's top representative in Iraq, to be America's first national intelligence director.

www.washingtonpost.com
If confirmed by the Senate, Negroponte, 65, will assume a post created by legislation aimed at overhauling the nation’s intelligence system. He was appointed by Bush last year as the first U.S. ambassador to Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein and recently announced, without explanation, that he would be leaving that post.

Bush named as Negroponte’s deputy the current head of the National Security Agency, Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden. As career Air Force intelligence officer, Hayden heads the nation’s largest intelligence service, and his appointment to be deputy national intelligence director served to underscore the significance that Bush is attaching to the top job.

The new director will oversee agencies with combined budgets of more than $40 billion, and Bush made clear that Negroponte would have considerable authority over setting those budgets and other matters.

Negroponte “will have the authority to order the collection of new intelligence, to ensure the sharing of information among agencies, and to establish common standards for the intelligence community’s personnel,” Bush said. “It will be John’s responsibility to determine the annual budgets for all national intelligence agencies and offices and to direct how these funds are spent. Vesting these in a single official who reports directly to me will make our intelligence efforts better coordinated, more efficient and more effective.”

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

As the world continues to live through tragedy, President Bush is now sharpening up on the intelligence to stay aware of what is going on in the middle eastern countries as well as the world itself. Today, President Bush has named a responsible person to the new post of National Security. As you can see, the president is trying to prevent any future terrorist attacks on the United States by strengthening our intelligence. Accomplishing this method would reduce the threats and risk of America being attacked.