WASHINGTON, May 6: US President George Bush plans to name Air Force General Michael Hayden to run the CIA after the abrupt resignation of the spy agency’s director Porter Goss, Time Magazine reported on Friday.

Time said Gen Hayden, who it described as close to Vice-President Dick Cheney, has not been formally offered the job, but called him ‘the leading candidate’, citing Republican sources.

Gen Hayden, currently principal deputy director of national intelligence, is the US military’s highest-ranking intelligence official, and has served as the Director of the National Security Agency.

Time said Goss resigned under pressure amid reorganisation of the intelligence apparatus. It said Mr Bush would name the replacement on Monday.—AFP