REFILE-FACTBOX-Bush looks to father's administration for top spy
05 Jan 2007 17:56:38 GMT Source: Reuters
Fixes spelling in last paragraph, Greenville instead of Greensville Jan 5 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Friday nominated retired Navy Adm. Mike McConnell to head the 16-agency U.S. espionage community as director of national intelligence. He replaces John Negroponte, whom Bush nominated as deputy secretary of state. Here are five facts about the new U.S. intelligence chief-designate: * McConnell was a member of the administration of Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, during the 1991 Gulf War, when he served as top intelligence adviser to Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. * From 1992 to 1996, McConnell was director of the National Security Agency, the Pentagon code-breaking and electronic surveillance organization that more recently has been embroiled in a controversy over Bush's domestic spying program. * McConnell spent the past decade at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he led the consulting firm's assignments in military intelligence and information operations for the Pentagon. * He has a bachelor's degree in economics from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and a master's in government and public administration from George Washington University in Washington. He also has masters equivalents from the National Defense University, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the Defense Intelligence College. * McConnell was born July 26, 1943, in Greenville, South Carolina, and became an intelligence officer after a tour of duty in Vietnam.
