President George W. Bush named a senior military officer on Friday to head the fledgling National Counterterrorism Center as he moved to fill a number of top anti-terrorism posts that had long been vacant, Reuters reported. Six months after Congress passed a law establishing the intelligence-analyzing hub, Bush said he wanted John Redd, a vice admiral who helped manage the U.S. occupation of Iraq, as its chief. "Having a senior military officer run the NCTC could be positive, because the NCTC is going to have to claw and fight for recognition in turf and role, and it's easier to do that when you have a very senior person in charge who commands some respect across the government," said a counterterrorism official not authorized to speak to reporters on the record. The NCTC will serve as the primary government agency analyzing all U.S. intelligence related to terrorism or counterterrorism, except information that deals exclusively with domestic terrorists. Critics say it has struggled to get up and running and does not yet have the full cooperation of U.S. intelligence-collecting agencies. --More 2335 Local Time 2035 GMT
