Senate vote on intelligence chief could be delayed

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100610/ap_on_go_co/us_intelligence_chief_4

A Senate vote on President Barack Obama's choice for national intelligence director could be delayed into the fall because of questions about whether the nominee, a retired Air Force general, would be too close to the Pentagon.

The White House had hoped to have nominee James R. Clapper confirmed by July, but congressional staffers said Wednesday that timetable looks unlikely. Concerns about Clapper's independence from the Pentagon, where he is head of intelligence services, were heightened after the disclosure of a memo in which he questions whether the national intelligence director should have new powers proposed in the 2010 intelligence authorization bill.

A delay in seating the director of national intelligence would be another blow to the post-Sept. 11 goal of improving coordination of intelligence among the nation's 16 intelligence agencies.

Congressional staffers say the memo is viewed by top-tier members of the Senate Intelligence Committee as lending credence to concerns that Clapper would not buck Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who brought Clapper to the Pentagon after he was appointed in 2006 by President George W. Bush.