[4] He was a staunch proponent of the Iraq War and an influential figure in promoting the debunked conspiracy that Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda had an operational relationship.

"[11] In 2008, Spencer Ackerman characterized Hayes as one of the most effective amplifiers of the Bush administration's Iraq War claims about an Iraq-Al Qaeda link.

[14][15] Hayes covered the contents of this memo in a 2003 Weekly Standard article, where he concluded "there can no longer be any serious argument about whether Saddam Hussein's Iraq worked with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to plot against Americans.

"[16] Other intelligence officials disputed the accuracy of the contents in Feith's memo, including W. Patrick Lang who was a former head of the Middle East section of the DIA and described the Weekly Standard article as "a listing of a mass of unconfirmed reports, many of which themselves indicate that the two groups continued to try to establish some sort of relationship.

In September 2014, Hayes' name was added to the United States Department of Homeland Security's Terrorist Watchlist after receiving additional scrutiny on several airline flights.