US National Intelligence Director to be Deputy Secretary of State

U.S. officials say National Intelligence Director John Negroponte will resign his post to become deputy secretary of state.

The officials say the career diplomat has agreed to return to the department as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's number two.

There's been no official announcement yet. Senior officials say a formal statement on the resignation and new position will be issued this week.

Negroponte became the first Director of National Intelligence in 2005. The post oversees all U.S. federal intelligence agencies. He had been expected to remain in that post until the end of the Bush presidency in 2008.

The position of deputy secretary of state has been vacant six months since Robert Zoellick left to join a New York investment bank.

By VOA News