U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday announced that the country's spy chief will resign and take the new job as No. 2 at the State Department.

Bush said in a televised statement that Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Negroponte will be replaced by retired Adm. Mike McConnell, a former head of the National Security Agency.

Negroponte will take the new job of deputy secretary of state, he said.

Both nominations must be confirmed by the Senate.

"Each of them will do good work in their new positions and it is vital that they take up their new responsibilities promptly," Bush said when making the announcement.

He asked the Democrat-controlled new Congress to confirm the nominations as soon as possible.

U.S. media said the reshuffle is part of Bush's ongoing shakeup of his top military, diplomatic and intelligence officials on the Iraq issue.

Negroponte, 67, received Senate confirmation in April 2005 to serve as the nation's first DNI.

The post was created in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York and Washington to oversee all 15 U.S. intelligence agencies.

Negroponte has held several high-profile posts in the Bush administration, including those of U.N. ambassador and ambassador to Iraq in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq.

A career diplomat, he also served as ambassador to the Philippines, Mexico and Honduras, where he was accused of overseeing the arming of Nicaraguan rebels during the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s.

If confirmed by the Senate, Negroponte will replace Robert Zoellick, who left office in July to join the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs.

McConnell was director of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996, during the administrations of the elder Bush and Bill Clinton, and was the intelligence officer for then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell during the Gulf War.

At present, he is a senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, a Washington consulting firm.

Source: Xinhua