Reflections on John Negroponte and His Tough New Job

John Negroponte has been nominated by President Bush to become the first National Intelligence Director. The position, created by Congress, was the brainchild of the 9/11 Commission.

The recommendation that this job be established is the one commission recommendation about which I had significant misgivings. Had the position been constituted as the commission recommended, the result would likely have been a separate intelligence bureaucracy within the federal government of dubious value, I thought.

But, as the result of a compromise worked out in response to the intelligence community's perennial turf wars, Congress made the position even less susceptible to success. In the legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President which authorized the position, the new director is given responsibility without authority. This is a deadly combination, as anyone who's ever worked in such a position--as I did when I worked for the state House of Representatives in Columbus--can attest.

Not only will Negroponte have to deal with the institutional weaknesses of his new position, but also face off against probably the most accomplished bureaucratic infighter in recent history, Donald Rumsfeld.

Negroponte will have a lot going for him, though. He has become one of the Bush Administration's "go to" guys. This will be his third tough assignment in the past four years. First, he was ambassador to the United Nations. Then, he was ambassador to Iraq. The President, like his father, values loyalty and generally speaking, is loyal to those who exhibit this quality toward him. This will be Negroponte's trump card in attempting to insure greater cooperation and information-sharing among the US government's various intelligence-gathering agencies.

During the upcoming confirmation process, some Democrats will no doubt bring up misgivings that have been expressed over Negroponte's possible role in the distribution of US money to Nicaragua's contras back during the Reagan Administration. But in light of that not having been a significant issue in two recent Senate confirmation hearings for Negroponte, it's doubtful that it will play an important role in these hearings. He'll be confirmed easily.

Hugh Hewitt today presented a letter he'd received from a person who knows and has worked with Negroponte. It's interesting:

Some background on Ambassador Negroponte from a long time correspondent I know to be very trustworthy:

"Dear Bloggers and Editors:

I worked for Ambassador Negroponte for two years (1993-95) in Manila.

I was pleased to hear this morning that John Negroponte was selected by President Bush to be the national intelligence director.

I am retired from the US Foreign Service, started my US Govt. career as an officer in the US Army (with service in Vietnam), and I am very active in the Republican Party here in Florida.

Ambassador Negroponte never mentioned his political beliefs, but he is typical of Republicans in that he:

- Speaks plain English
- Focuses on results, not on process
- Will remove senior officials who are problems
- Projects a very serious image
- Projects wisdom and made no mistake that I knew of during the two years in Manila
- Was never unkind to subordinates (other than those removed for cause, and only to do that)
- Had no apparent vices or problems
- Seemed to be driven by a desire for public service, not for advancement, titles, awards, personal benefits
- As a subordinate, he was an easy boss to work for if one did their job properly
- Reminds me more of an intellectual general than of a typical gentleman diplomat

Please note that Ambassador Negroponte retired from the US Foreign Service in about 1997 or 98 when another person was assigned to be ambassador to Greece and other such jobs seemed not to be available for him (my guess). He was recalled from retirement to go to the UN and then to Baghdad.

Ambassador Negroponte is Greek, I believe that he was born in London and speaks Greek, French, and Vietnamese.

His quick rise in the US Foreign Service was due (in addition to ability) to National Security Advisor Henry Kissenger requesting a FSO who had served in Vietnam and knew both French and Vietnamese, which was the case for Ambassador Negroponte. This was to work on the Vietnam War negotiations in Paris. But the problem (as he described to me) was that he got to hear EVERYTHING in the negotiations three times, since everything was translated from English to French to Vietnamese to French to English, since there was not a high quality English - Vietnamese translator."