WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama named retired general James Clapper as his new director of national intelligence yesterday, selecting a defence veteran to coordinate action between numerous US intelligence agencies.

Obama, who announced the appointment at the White House, urged the Senate to confirm Clapper swiftly, a nod to resistance from some Democratic and Republican lawmakers who are worried about Clapper’s close ties to the Pentagon.

Clapper, now undersecretary of defence for intelligence, would replace Dennis Blair, who was ousted last month amid mounting security concerns following a failed car bomb attempt in New York’s Times Square on May 1 and the botched attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound US airliner on Christmas Day. The director of national intelligence oversees the agencies that make up the US intelligence community, including the CIA.

“Our intelligence community needs to work as one integrated team that produces quality, timely and accurate intelligence. And let’s be honest: this is a tough task,” Obama said.