General Michael Hayden has moved a step closer to becoming the next head of the CIA. On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to recommend Hayden’s confirmation. Four Democrats joined the committee’s Republican members in supporting Hayden’s nomination. During his confirmation hearing, Hayden staunchly defended the Bush administration’s domestic wiretap program he oversaw as director of the National Security Agency. In a statement, Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, one of the three Democrats to vote against, said: “General Hayden directed an illegal program that put Americans on American soil under surveillance without the legally required approval of a judge.”