Negroponte tapped for intelligence chief

WASHINGTON – President Bush on Thursday named veteran diplomat John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, to be the first national intelligence director.

If confirmed by the Senate, which appeared likely, Negroponte will oversee the federal government’s 15 military and civilian intelligence agencies.

His charge from Bush: Thwart terrorist attacks through more effective and more cooperative intelligence-gathering and dissemination.

“John will make sure that those whose duty it is to defend America have the information we need to make the right decisions,” Bush said at a news conference.

Negroponte, 65, would report directly to Bush and give him a daily intelligence briefing, a duty now performed by CIA Director Porter Goss.