Michael Hayden

He was director of the National Security Agency (NSA) from 1999–2005. During his tenure as director, the longest in the history of the agency, he oversaw the controversial NSA surveillance of technological communications between persons in the United States and alleged foreign terrorist groups.

On May 8, 2006, General Hayden was nominated for the position of CIA Director and reappointment to the rank of general following the May 5 resignation of Porter J. Goss, and on May 23 the Senate Intelligence Committee voted 12-3 to send the nomination to the Senate floor. His nomination was confirmed by the Senate on May 26 by a vote of 78-15. On May 30, 2006 and again the following day at the CIA lobby with President George W. Bush in attendance, General Hayden was sworn in as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

On July 1, 2008, General Hayden retired from the Air Force after 39 years of service however he still continues to serve as Director of the CIA.^[2]

Early life, career, and family

Michael Vincent Hayden was born on St. Patrick's Day in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to an Irish-American couple, Sadie and Harry Hayden, Jr. who worked as a welder for a Pennsylvania manufacturing company. He has a younger brother, Harry III, and a sister, Debby.

He is a graduate of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program. Hayden entered active military service in 1969.

General Hayden has served as commander of the Air Intelligence Agency and Director of the Joint Command and Control Warfare Center, both headquartered at Lackland Air Force Base. He also has served in senior staff positions in the Pentagon; Headquarters U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany; the National Security Council, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Embassy in the then-People's Republic of Bulgaria. Prior to his current assignment, the general served as deputy chief of staff for United Nations Command and U.S. Forces Korea, Yongsan Army Garrison. He has also worked in intelligence in Guam.

Intelligence career

Air Intelligence Agency

Then Commander, Hayden directed an agency of 16,000 charged with defending and exploiting the "information domain."^[3]

National Security Agency

General Hayden served as the Director of the National Security Agency and Chief of the Central Security Service at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland from March 1999 to April 2005. As the Director of NSA and Chief of CSS, he was responsible for a combat support agency of the Department of Defense with military and civilian personnel stationed worldwide.^[4]

Strategy for the NSA

Wiretaps of domestic calls

In May 2006, USA Today reported that, under General Hayden's leadership, the NSA created an domestic telephone call database. During his nomination hearings, Hayden defended his actions to Senator Russ Feingold and others, stating that he had relied upon legal advice that the White House order to build the database was supported by Article Two of the United States Constitution executive branch powers (in which the President must "take care that the laws be faithfully executed"), overriding legislative branch statutes forbidding warrantless surveillance of domestic calls, which included the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Previously, this action would have required a warrant from a FISA court. The stated purpose of the database was to eavesdrop on international communications between persons within the U.S. and individuals and groups overseas in order to locate terrorists ^[9]^[10]^[11]

Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence

General Hayden was Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence from May 2005 to May 2006 under John Negroponte.

George W. Bush announces his nomination of Hayden as the next Director of the CIA as Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte looks on.

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Critics of the nomination and General Hayden's attempts to increase domestic surveillance included Senator Dianne Feinstein who stated on May 11, 2006 that "I happen to believe we are on our way to a major constitutional confrontation on Fourth Amendment guarantees of unreasonable search and seizure"^[14]

Hayden is not the first active member of the military to be appointed to run the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Those previously holding the position of Director of Central Intelligence while simultaneously holding a military rank were: