WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today announced the schedule for confirmation hearings on the nomination of General Michael Hayden to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Committee will hold an open hearing on Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 9:30 am EST followed by a closed full Committee hearing. The room is to be determined.

Chairman Roberts said, “The nation needs leadership in the Central Intelligence Agency and the Committee has a responsibility to move quickly on this important nomination.”

“General Hayden is well known to the Intelligence Committee,” Roberts said. “He has appeared multiple times before the Committee during his six years as the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and has been confirmed by the Senate as both the Director of NSA and as the Principle Deputy Director of National Intelligence.”