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Michael Hayden, nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), defended a controversial domestic spying program yesterday at his Senate confirmation hearing.

 

Testifying in open session before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Hayden sought to ease the concerns of some senators, who questioned the legality of the program he launched during his tenure at the National Security Agency (NSA) from 1999 to 2005.

 

The program monitors phone calls between people in the US and suspected terrorists overseas, bypassing a special federal court.

 

Hayden said the program's activities are closely supervised and reviewed.

 

"They are targeted at al-Qaeda, there is a probable cause standard, and every targeting is documented," he said.

 

"There is a literal target folder that explains the rationale, and the answers to questions on a very long checklist, as to why this particular number we believe to be associated with the enemy."

 

Hayden noted that the surveillance program is a necessary tool in the war on terror.

 

Republican Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, agreed with him.

 

Democratic Senator Carl Levin called on Hayden to restore what he called "analytical independence" at the CIA if he is confirmed.

 

Levin is one of many Democrats who have argued that, in the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq, CIA intelligence was manipulated to support the administration's desire to oust Saddam Hussein.

 

Acknowledging prewar intelligence failures, Hayden said the intelligence community has learned from its mistakes.

 

A four-star Air Force general, Hayden, 61, currently is the deputy director of national intelligence.

 

If confirmed, he will succeed former CIA director Porter Goss, who resigned earlier this month, after a stormy tenure marked by departure of high-level CIA intelligence officers.

 

One of the other concerns expressed over Hayden's nomination was whether it is wise to have someone with a lengthy military record directing civilian spies at a time when US intelligence gathering is already so dominated by the Pentagon.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2006)