Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The selection of Gen. Michael P.C. Carns, 57, is to be announced this week, said an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Congressional committees that oversee the CIA have been notified of the White House's choice, a congressional official said.
Carns would replace James Woolsey, who abruptly announced his resignation in December and left the post in early January.
Carns, if confirmed by the Senate, would be the first military officer to head the CIA since Stansfield Turner, a retired Navy admiral, held the post during the Carter administration, and only the third in 30 years.
Adm. William Studeman, who was deputy CIA director under Woolsey and has been the acting head since Woolsey left, would have to leave if Carns takes over because the National Security Act of 1947 that created the Central Intelligence Agency says military officers may not hold the top two positions simultaneously.
People who worked with Carns during his 35-year Air Force career said Tuesday they believed he would do well even though he never worked for an intelligence agency.
``I think he's a terrific appointment,'' said Robert Gates, who was CIA director during the Bush administration and has known Carns since Carns was at U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii in the mid-1980s.
``He's been a user of intelligence, and he understands a good deal about how intelligence is prepared,'' Gates said.
Gates and retired Gen. Michael Dugan, a former chief of staff of the Air Force, said Carns is an especially strong manager.
by CNB