By Keith Perine and Tim Starks, CQ Staff

Dianne Feinstein , the California Democrat expected to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee next year, called Thursday for new leadership for the nation’s intelligence community.

“My view is that it’s time for a new start,” Feinstein said in an interview.

Her call deals a blow to the prospects of Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and CIA Director Michael V. Hayden carrying over to the administration of President-elect Barack Obama .

Feinstein is poised to take the gavel of the Intelligence panel from John D. Rockefeller IV , D-W.Va., who is expected to chair the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Both McConnell and Hayden meanwhile signaled publicly that they would like to remain in their posts under Obama.

Democrats who follow the intelligence community agree that cooperation within the intelligence community has improved under Hayden, McConnell, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Pentagon intelligence chief James R. Clapper.

But McConnell and Hayden have been outspoken defenders of the Bush administration’s surveillance and interrogation policies that have drawn critical fire from the same Democrats. Feinstein in particular has been critical of CIA interrogation practices she considers torture.

“I want to see the Senate Intelligence Committee with much closer oversight and a much closer relationship with the intelligence community,” Feinstein said.

A second Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Russ Feingold , D-Wis., echoed Feinstein’s call for new leadership in the spy community.

“I am confident President-elect Obama understands the need for new leadership of the intelligence community and will appoint competent, capable people who will work aggressively to ensure the safety and security of Americans without undermining our laws and Constitution,” Feingold stated in a news release. “For eight years, the current administration has shown contempt for the rule of law, including in intelligence-related matters, while repeatedly refusing to work cooperatively with Congress. At the same time, the administration has failed to develop comprehensive strategies to protect our nation against our most immediate threat, al Qaeda and its affiliates. New leadership is needed to move our intelligence policies in the right direction.”

Signaling Desire To Stay On

At separate events, McConnell and Hayden discussed their interest in keeping their jobs.

“If asked to stay, I think both of us would seriously consider it,” Hayden said after a speech at the Atlantic Council of the United States. But he added that both he and McConnell understand they “serve at the pleasure of the president” and that it was important that there be a “personal relationship” between the president and his intelligence chiefs.

Hayden offered some guidance to Obama, advising him not to worry so much about the structure of the intelligence community as picking trusted people to lead the agencies.