Can Anyone Make Sense of This?

The New York Times has just reported that John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence, is leaving his post to become the State Department’s second-ranking official and that that the leading candidate to take his place is J. Michael McConnell, a retired vice admiral who led the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996. Admiral McConnell was head of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Gen. Colin L. Powell during the first Persian Gulf war, in 1991.

Why?