GovernmentExecutive.com

Like many others, I have my share of reservations about whether last year's intelligence reform will lead to an effective overhaul of the intelligence bureaucracy. Because of the ambiguous nature of the new structure set up by the law, a lot depends on who holds the top slots. And in that regard President Bush's appointments yesterday of veteran diplomat John Negroponte and National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden, are, to say the least, intriguing. Negroponte has a tremendous amount of experience in foreign affairs, giving him many opportunities to be on what former National Security Adviser John Poindexter described to GovExec's Shane Harris as the "demand side" of the intelligence equation. And Hayden has been justly lauded for his efforts to transform NSA into a modern, effective organization. (For more details on that, see George Cahlink's reports on Hayden in 2001 and last year.) The jury's still out on how much clout these guys will have, but they've certainly got the kind of federal management experience that people who get these kinds of jobs so often lack.