CIA . . . CLINTON'S SURPRISE PICK

The President has chosen a recently retired Air Force general, Michael Carns, to take over the CIA, according to Administration sources. An official announcement is expected later this week. If confirmed by the Senate, Carns would be the first military officer to run the agency since Navy Adm. Stansfield Turner held the post during the Carter Administration. TIME Washington correspondent Douglas Waller says the choice of Carns--a Harvard MBA, veteran of 200 combat missions in Vietnam and the Air Force's vice chief of staff until last year--took most Beltway insiders by surprise. But, Waller adds, Carns's reputation as "a low-key, effective manager, a very quick study and a take-charge kind of guy" already sounds good to congressional leaders who forced out the intransigent R. James Woolsey in December. He may be in like Flint with the Senate, but "he's an outsider coming into what is one of the most insular and byzantine agencies in government," Waller says. Making the job even more of a challenge is the run of bad press Spy Central has faced in the last 12 months.