David A. Kay, a former chief nuclear weapons inspector in Iraq and now a senior fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, confirmed in an interview that he had considered taking the post. He said he had decided against it because of competing commitments.
But associates said Mr. Kay was worried about the office's prospects. They said he had complained that promoting democracy had too little priority in the new office, and that the mission itself was underfinanced and poorly staffed. Bureaucratic rivalries were already intense, he told friends, and the office had too few recruits who knew Iraq well.
