Monday, January 05, 2009

Barack Obama taps Leon Panetta to run CIA

More at chicagotribune.com: “WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama has selected Leon Panetta, a former congressman with little experience on intelligence matters, to serve as the next director of the CIA, according to Democratic officials familiar with the decision.

The selection puts the prominent Democrat in charge of an agency that has been at the center of a storm of criticism in recent years, ranging from intelligence failures leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks to the aggressive tactics that were embraced in its aftermath.

Panetta, who was chief of staff to President Clinton, is regarded as a bright political operative and highly capable manager. But if confirmed by the Senate, he would be among the few directors in agency history with no prior experience at one of the nation's spy services.


-- Or was this a trial balloon to see how Senator Diane Feinstein would react? Whatever the case, she was not happy to have learned the news via the New York Times.

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