Gen. Hayden, Negroponte aide to replace Goss after apparent power struggle

(CNN) Officials:

General to head CIANegroponte aide to replace Goss after apparent power struggle

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Friday, May 5, 2006; Posted: 11:09 p.m. EDT (03:09 GMT)

Gen. Michael Hayden, right, is a deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, left.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush has settled on Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden as his choice for CIA director, and an announcement is planned for Monday, senior administration officials told CNN late Friday

.Hayden, 61, is the principal deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.

If confirmed by the Senate, Hayden would replace Porter Goss, who abruptly resigned the CIA post earlier Friday after losing what intelligence sources described as a power struggle with Negroponte.

Hayden was director of the National Security Agency in 2001 when Bush authorized a controversial program allowing the agency to monitor the communications of people inside the United States who were in contact with suspected terrorists overseas without first obtaining a warrant.Critics charge the surveillance program is a violation of law and an assault on civil liberties.

Hayden has defended the program, insisting that it is a necessary tool to thwart terrorists and that the process of obtaining warrants is too slow and cumbersome to deal with "a lethal enemy."

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