Debate rages about whether it’s acceptable for Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to serve as the new head of the nation’s Central Intelligence Agency.

Some think it’s inappropriate for the CIA head to be aligned with the military, while others see no conflict, considering the nature of the job. Some have suggested that Hayden should resign from the Air Force. That most likely would not satisfy serious critics, who would contend he still would have military ties. Once a general, always a general, they likely would declare.

It is difficult to understand why there should be so much concern about the military-civilian issue. A civilian with no armed forces background would not have the depth of perception about a tough and perilous job at hand. With proper supervision, a military person would seem to have a better notion of what is needed in the spying business.

American “intelligence” was a terrible weakness leading up to and following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. There is every evidence the situation has not improved much since then. CIA director Porter Goss wasn’t fired because of his military background but because he was performing poorly.

While theorists and ideologues can rant all night about the dangers of having the CIA too closely tied with military interests and questionable homeland security operations, there is a demanding and difficult job to be done. The new director is going to have to leap into the fray and get down to business right away to compensate for past faults and flaws. We dare not do anything less.

Such activity often is not pleasant to consider, but there is more than passing evidence that Hayden is up to such a challenge, whether he stays in the Air Force or steps out. He knows the dangers, the pitfalls and the tests that lie ahead in the current war on terror and it might be wise to get him to work on it soon so our enemies cannot exploit the delays that long-winded debate will assure.

War is a terrible way to do business, and dealing with it often is an ugly process. Nobody has explained this better than Bill Mauldin, the famed World War II cartoonist-author. Mauldin’s descriptions of wartime in his book “Up Front” also speak to the current war on terror. “He (the enemy) tricks you and cheats you,” Mauldin wrote, “and if you don’t beat him at his own game you don’t live to appreciate your own nobleness.”

That’s the nature of the “intelligence” operations we need to create and enhance, and early indications are that Michael Hayden, general or civilian, is a good choice to serve as director.