Inside the Beltway

By John McCaslin (Contact) | Monday, June 23, 2008

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Monkey business

Rep. Tim Murphy, Pennsylvania Republican, noting that oil and gas prices are climbing to record highs and families are struggling to make ends meet, sums up floor action in the U.S. Congress last week.

"Well, we voted on monkeys. Yes, we voted to prohibit you from driving a monkey across state lines," the none-too-pleased congressman informed the country.

'Mikey,' anyone?

He will remain in his post as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, but after nearly 40 years of active military duty, a retirement ceremony was held Friday for Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden.

Gen. Hayden occupies "one of the most critical positions in the country today" and his military retirement "does not mark the end of a career," stressed Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates at the Bolling Air Force Base Officers' Club.

Mr. Gates who, like the retiring general, served in the Air Force before becoming CIA director in 1991 lauded Gen. Hayden as the "quintessential intelligence professional" who "understands the threats we face and what we must do to confront them."

In the often-thankless field of intelligence, Mr. Gates noted, "when you smell the flowers, you look around for the coffin."

But the defense secretary also called attention to Gen. Hayden's personal side, pointing out that the Pittsburgh native, who left the helm of the National Security Agency (NSA) to become CIA director in May 2006, likes to show up unannounced in the agency's employee cafeteria and "search for an empty chair, not empty table."

Once, Mr. Gates recalled, the CIA director unwittingly sat down in the middle of a baby shower, and by the time he finished his lunch he had offered a few of his own suggestions for suitable baby names.