By Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - In tapping John Negroponte to be deputy secretary of state, President George W. Bush appears to have concluded he needed another diplomatic heavyweight to grapple with foreign policy crises from Iraq to North Korea, U.S. officials and analysts said on Thursday.

The move, which a senior official said was expected to be announced on Friday, has perplexed some in Washington because Negroponte would leave what is ostensibly the top job in U.S. intelligence for the secondary State Department post.

It has also caused dismay among key U.S. lawmakers, who fear Negroponte's departure as the director of national intelligence (DNI) will set back the effort to reform U.S. spy agencies after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I'm troubled by his departure. I don't know what's behind it. It just strikes me as, wow, we just got this thing settled," said Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, the influential incoming chairman of Senate armed services committee.

But analysts and U.S. officials said challenges facing the administration -- from the war in Iraq to North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs -- meant someone of Negroponte's stature was needed at the State Department.

"Major issues have got to be dealt with and if you want to actually continue to push to make progress ... you need another heavyweight," said a senior official, saying Negroponte was likely to pay special attention to Iraq and North Korea.

James Steinberg, a deputy White House national security adviser under former President Bill Clinton, said he did not believe the Bush administration was ever seriously committed to the DNI position, created after the Sept. 11 attacks to try to ride herd over the U.S. intelligence community.

"They have never been deeply committed to the intelligence reform. It was not something they sought," said Steinberg. "I think ... what they really cared about was getting Iraq right and getting somebody over there to work on that full time."

40-YEAR DIPLOMATIC CAREER

Analysts described Negroponte as the perfect choice to become deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, citing a 40-year diplomatic career that included five ambassadorial assignments, including at the United Nations and in Iraq.

A senior government official who spoke on condition that he not be named said Bush was expected on Friday to nominate Negroponte to become deputy secretary of state.

The official said Bush will likely tap retired Navy Admiral John McConnell, a senior vice president at the Washington contracting and consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, to replace Negroponte.

The deputy's job has been open since Robert Zoellick left to join Goldman Sachs last July. Another key aide, former State Department counselor Philip Zelikow, is returning to academia and U.N. ambassador John Bolton stepped down last year.

"In some ways, it is putting Negroponte back where his true strength lies, which is as a career diplomat," said James Dobbins, a former State Department official who served with Negroponte and is now an analyst at the Rand Corporation.

News of the appointment sparked speculation that Negroponte might eventually replace Rice, should she move on.

White House spokesman Tony Snow rolled his eyes when asked if Negroponte might have been tapped to serve as an understudy to Rice, who tutored Bush on foreign policy during the 2000 presidential campaign and was his first national security adviser.

Several officials said they had no reason to believe Rice planned to leave before Bush's term ends in 2009. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Steve Holland and David Morgan)

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