US lawmakers, some from President George W. Bush's Republican party, are challenging his expected choice as CIA chief of a general behind a disputed domestic spying program.
They voiced reservations on Sunday talk shows about Bush's potential choice of General Michael Hayden, deputy to national intelligence director John Negroponte, to head the spy agency following Porter Goss's resignation under pressure on Friday.
The members of Congress said they wanted to use Hayden's Senate nomination hearings to learn more about the program of warrantless eavesdropping on Americans' international phone calls and e-mail in pursuit of terrorism suspects. Critics say the program threatens civil liberties but Bush defends it as essential to fighting terrorism.
Some also said a general heading the CIA could give the Pentagon too much sway over US intelligence gathering.
"The bottom line: I do believe he is the wrong person at the wrong place at the wrong time," said Republican US Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, head of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, however, called Hayden "very highly qualified" and told CBS's "Face the Nation" it was important that the Senate quickly act on the nomination. He declined to say how he would vote.
The White House was expected to announce as early as Monday Bush's choice to replace Goss, who resigned after a contentious tenure at the CIA marked by an exodus of senior officials and tensions with Negroponte.
Hayden, the former head of the National Security Agency which conducts eavesdropping operations, must be confirmed by the Senate if he is nominated.
Bush has said Hayden was the one who proposed the domestic eavesdropping program after the September 11 attacks. Revelation of its existence sparked a public and political furor, but Bush has both defended his decision to approve it and authority to do so.
Hayden's confirmation hearings would give Congress a chance to find out more about the program, said Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"There is no doubt there's an enormous threat from terrorism, but the president does not have a blank check. Now with General Hayden up for confirmation, this will give us an opportunity to try to find out," Specter said on "Fox News Sunday."
Hoekstra, who does not have a vote on the nomination because he is not a senator, said on Fox that he was opposed to a military officer leading the civilian spy agency at a time of tensions between the CIA and the Defence Department.
He said the White House had discussed several possible candidates with him, and his views on Hayden would not be a surprise to the Bush administration.
Democrats also expressed concern about having a general in charge of the CIA.
Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Fox he was concerned that the spy agency possibly was about to be "just gobbled up by the Defense Department."
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