Obama to name retired admiral as intelligence director

But the daily added that Obama had yet to conclude his search for a new Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief.

If confirmed, Blair, who has a 34-year Navy career, would be the top intelligence adviser to the president and the National Security Council and would be tasked with managing intelligence activities and coordination among 16 agencies that comprise the US intelligence community.

The name of Blair has surfaced for the top intelligence job in a transition period when the country is facing ticking international time bombs inherited from the present Bush administration, including two wars, secret CIA prisons overseas and domestic wiretapping.

Obama’s team has faced hurdles in finalising his intelligence picks, and the choice of Blair — a career military man — might fuel tensions between civilian and military intelligence officials, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Blair, who is not known to be personally close to Obama, is supposed to have ties with the Clintons and was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University at the same times as former president Bill Clinton.

A former commander of US forces in the Pacific, Blair will be only the third director of the National Intelligence, created by Congress in 2004 after investigations revealed intelligence failure and lack of coordination and information sharing among country’s different intelligence wings prior to the 9/11 attacks.