A "Kiss-up, Kick-Down Sort of Guy"

John R. Bolton, President Bush's choice to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is a "kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy" who bullied subordinates and threatened to end the career of an intelligence analyst who disagreed with him on Cuba's weapons arsenal, a former State Department official testified Tuesday.

Carl W. Ford Jr., the former head of the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research, said that Bolton sought to have analyst Christian Westermann dismissed from his job after Westermann followed "normal procedure" in challenging a statement Bolton planned to make on Cuba's possession of biological weapons.

Ford, a government intelligence agent for more than 30 years who described himself as a "loyal Republican, conservative to the core," told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he had "real questions about Bolton's suitability" to serve as chief U.S. spokesman at the United Nations.

"I have never seen anyone quite like Mr. Bolton," Ford said. "He abuses his authority with little people." Ford described Bolton as a "serial abuser" of people who disagreed with his views.

"Mr. Bolton needs anger management at a minimum," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

But Bolton's path to confirmation seemed to be open after Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island said he was "still inclined" to join the nine other committee Republicans in voting for Bolton's promotion.