Charming the Grouchy CIA

By most accounts, the cia's new boss, Gen. Michael Hayden, inherited a grumpy agency beaten up in the aftermath of 9/11. Now insiders tell us that morale is edging up. And they credit Hayden's charm offensive for the change. His technique: Hayden sends out regular E-mails to staff boasting about their good work and revealing secrets he hears from top politicians. What's more, he sometimes stops by offices to buck them up. "He pulls people aside to say nice things. It works," says an insider. Hayden's got a solid public-relations record: When he ran the National Security Agency, we're told, he used to video his interaction with workers to show he didn't work in an ivory tower. "You could write a management book off his techniques," says one official.

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