Then, insights and analysis. Chief political reporter for The Washington Post, Dan Balz. And the national editor of Vanity Fair magazine, Todd Purdum. And just who is this other George W. Bush?

MR. RUSSERT: And joining us now is the Democratic leader of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Welcome back to MEET THE PRESS.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Good morning, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: Friday, this was the scene in the Oval Office when President Bush suddenly announced the resignation of Porter Goss as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Your reaction?

REP. PELOSI: The intelligence community is in disarray right now. The American people, in order to be protected, must have the best possible intelligence. We want the president and the Congress to have that. The—this administration has not managed the intelligence community well. We have questions that have arisen about the effectiveness of the new direct—Office of the—of National Intelligence that was formed. We have a CIA that is demoralized. We have a fierce competition between the Department of Defense in a power struggle with the entire rest of the intelligence community. We have to do better, it’s very important to the American people. We need competent leadership, we need objective collection, analysis and dissemination of information, and we need this to be done in a very, very non-partisan way.

MR. RUSSERT: Do you think Mr. Goss left voluntarily?

REP. PELOSI: No.

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MR. RUSSERT: Why, why was he relieved?

REP. PELOSI: Well, depending on the story, he’s been on his way out for at least one month because of the struggle between him and Mr. Negroponte. But I think that this dismissal was triggered by what has been happening on the scandal front for the Republicans with the third in command, who was hired by Mr. Goss to, to be involved in these card games and whatever else it was.

MR. RUSSERT: Do you have any evidence to base that judgment?

REP. PELOSI: Just a strong political instinct and the timing of it all.

MR. RUSSERT: That Porter Goss is caught up in...

REP. PELOSI: No, no, not—he isn’t. But the CIA and person that he appointed, who was a questionable appointee to begin with, is caught up in that, and it’s a reflection on his leadership and his management.

MR. RUSSERT: But you have no evidence of that?

REP. PELOSI: I have no thought that Mr. Goss is caught up in any of this, no. I know him, I, I haven’t any thought that he would be caught up in it. But it’s all a reflection on the president of the United States, and they were going to take that off the table as soon as possible.

MR. RUSSERT: How is John Negroponte doing as head of all intelligence?

REP. PELOSI: Well, there’s some concern about, as the Congress has said in recent weeks, Congresswoman Harman, Congressman Hoekstra, the chair of the committee, they have said they will review the budget more carefully, and perhaps withhold some funding until they see a better management at the directorship of National Intelligence.

MR. RUSSERT: And you share their concern?

REP. PELOSI: Well, they have information that, that leads them to that place. I think that, that it should be subjected to some scrutiny, yes.

MR. RUSSERT: It looks like General Michael Hayden, formerly of the National Security Agency, will be the new head of the CIA. Would you support that nomination?

REP. PELOSI: I have serious concerns about General Hayden. First of all, he’s too closely tied to this question of domestic surveillance, which should be looked into, but not in the course of a confirmation hearing for the head of the Central Intelligence Agency. But I harken back to what I said before:

There’s a power struggle going on between the Department of Defense and the entire rest of the intelligence community. So I don’t see how you have a four-star general heading up the CIA. There has to be more people that could be drawn upon. These people are all just this little clique. They play musical chairs. They’re all far too close to the president politically, and I think that, that the confidence that everyone needs in the CIA would be better instilled if we had someone else.

MR. RUSSERT: So you would vote against Hayden if you had the opportunity?

REP. PELOSI: I don’t have the opportunity, but I would, as I say, raise a serious question.

MR. RUSSERT: If you were senator, you would urge your Democratic senators from California to vote against him?

REP. PELOSI: Well, I, I don’t—as I say, until some of these questions are answered, I don’t think it’s a good appoint—I, I’ve worked with General Hayden over the years. I don’t think it’s a good appointment to the CIA. He may be good for something else, but not for the CIA.

MR. RUSSERT: You expressed concerns about the eavesdropping program. You would not end that program.

REP. PELOSI: I believe that, again, our, our Congress and our president must have the best possible intelligence, and it’s possible to do that under the law.

MR. RUSSERT: But you would, you would end the existing program?

REP. PELOSI: No, I wouldn’t end the existing program. I would do it under the law. I would do it under the law. There—the law is very clear, it gives the administration a great deal of latitude in terms of 72 hours and, and all it is—you know, the excuse that the administration uses is that they say it’s too much work at the Department of Justice to uphold our law and our Constitution. I don’t think so. I’ve told the attorney general, “Hire more people. But it, it, it shouldn’t take you—we shouldn’t have a violation of the law because you don’t have enough lawyers to be able to certify that something should go to the FISA court.” Again, it all comes back to protecting the American people. And as we protect and defend the American people, we protect our Constitution.

But, again, there’s very little information available on this. My concern with the administration is that they are heralding that, “Dozens of briefings were held with so many members of Congress that people know what this is,” that, that’s simply not the case. So let’s just have a congressional review of it, very dispassionately, with the eye to protecting the American people, but also to have real truth in what we’re talking about as to what it is, what the law is, and, and, and who knows about it.

MR. RUSSERT: But to be clear, you would still authorize intercepting phone calls, you would just have a different legal process.

REP. PELOSI: I would say that the FISA, the FISA law allows the president to do what he needs to do to get the intelligence for the American people, but it must be done under the law, and that law is very specific.

MR. RUSSERT: I saw in the USA Today in December of ‘05 this story, and I’ll read it to you and our viewers. “House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi switched gears and embraced a call to begin an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq,” which is quite striking, because in May of 2004 you were on this program, and I asked you specifically, “Should there be withdrawal of U.S. troops by a date certain,” and this is exactly what you said. Let’s watch.

CONTINUED

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