Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, a close confidant of retiring Secretary of State Colin Powell, has been mentioned as a candidate to become the first director of national intelligence, the position created by the just-signed intelligence reform bill. Others in the running include White House Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend, Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, the head of the National Security Agency; retired Gen. Tommy Franks; Adm. William Studeman, a former deputy CIA director; John Lehman, a former Navy secretary; and James Clapper Jr., director of the National Geospatial Agency, which does imagery intelligence.
