(AP):

President Barack Obama put his stamp on United States national security and foreign policy yesterday, moving quickly to repudiate programmes of his predecessor.

The man he tapped to oversee the intelligence community promised Congress he would not allow torture or wiretapping without a warrant.

On his second full day in office, Obama planned to sign an order shutting down the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

Obama was also ready to trumpet Hillary Rodham Clinton's installa-tion as secretary of state while turning to veteran politician and dealmaker George Mitchell to guide the new administration through the Mideast thicket.

Retired Admiral Dennis Blair, the incoming director of national intelligence, told a congressional committee that the jail at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, must be closed because it is "a damaging symbol to the world".

Overseers

The new look to US foreign policy will be overseen by four former senators - Obama and Clinton and Vice-President Joe Biden and Mitchell, who served much earlier as Senate majority leader.

Obama's State Department address could provide an opening for him to plunge into the Middle East conflict.

He has been reluctant to get ahead of the process, saying frequently during the post-Election Day transition period that the country should be speaking with a single voice on foreign affairs and there could only be one president at a time.

For that reason, Obama stood down from much substantive talk on the terrorist attack on Mumbai, India, and the surge of new violence on the Gaza Strip, although he voiced concern about the loss of life in both situations.