Washington ? Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden won a bipartisan endorsement from the Senate intelligence committee Tuesday to head the CIA at a time of reorganization and troubled morale, and legislative leaders said they hope to have the full Senate confirm him for the job by Thursday.

The panel voted 12-3 to recommend that Hayden, a four-star general with substantial experience in electronic surveillance, succeed Porter Goss, who leaves the CIA post Friday after 18 stormy months.

Dissenters objected mainly to what they called the administration’s failure to justify adequately the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretaps of Americans’ international calls. Hayden headed the NSA when the program was launched, soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.