Fergie's Tech Blog

Negroponte's Likely Replacement Makes Civil Libertarians Nervous

Michael Hirsh and Mark Hosenball write on Newsweek.com:

...some of [retired Vice Admiral John Michael McConnell]'s longtime associations may cause him headaches during Senate confirmation hearings, especially with the Democrats taking over Congress. One such tie is with another former Navy admiral John Poindexter, the former Iran-contra figure who started the controversial "Total Information Awareness" program at the Pentagon in 2002.

The international consultancy that McConnell has worked at for a decade as a senior vice president, Booz Allen Hamilton, won contracts worth $63 million on the TIA "data-mining" program, which was later cancelled after congressional Democrats raised questions about invasion of privacy.

McConnell will be named by week's end to replace John Negroponte, who will move on to become Condoleezza Rice's deputy secretary of State, according to a White House official who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Much more here.

posted by Fergie @ 1/04/2007 09:14:00 PM