Obama announces intelligence head, Leon Panetta and retired Adm. Dennis Blair as director of national intelligence. Other intelligence officials:
I will also rely on the talent and expertise of several distinguished public servants with substantial intelligence experience. The current DNI, Mike McConnell, will continue to offer his counsel through my foreign intelligence advisory board. The National Counterterrorism Center, the hub of our efforts to prevent attacks and root out terrorist networks will continue to benefit from the leadership of Michael Leiter.
And I am pleased to announce that John Brennan, a close adviser, CIA veteran, and former leader of the National Counterterrorism Center, will be my homeland security adviser and deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism serving with the rank of assistant to the president. John has the experience, vision, and integrity to advance America’s security.
CQ Politics: By tapping Leon Panetta to be CIA chief, Barack Obama sent a clear signal: no to torture. A year ago, Panetta wrote an article declaring, "We cannot and we must not use torture under any circumstances." And he included waterboarding--which the CIA has used---as torture. In fact, Obama's reported first choice for the CIA job, John Brennan, a career CIA official, had had his chances scuttled after bloggers and others griped that he had been soft, if not supportive, when it came to torture and CIA renditions.
Tomorrow, Obama will officially announce Leon Panetta to head the CIA, Dennis Blair, as director of National Intelligence, and John Brennan, as White House homeland security adviser and deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism.
In addition to being a big surprise, many seem to think Panetta is not up on his spycraft, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, who will chair the Senate Intelligence Committee. Huh? is their reaction. Others like the shift from waterboarding to intelligence. A former CIA officer, Robert Baer, says at least Obama knows the CIA's problems.
Leon Panetta may not have an intelligence background, but his appointment as CIA director shows that Barack Obama understands the CIA's problems.
Maybe the long-troubled CIA, which seems to lack leadership, will actually get an intelligence boost.
Houston Chronicle: WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama's decision to fill the nation's top intelligence jobs with two men short on direct experience in intelligence gathering surprised the spy community and signaled the Democrat's intention for a clean break from Bush administration policies. Former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, an eight-term congressional veteran and administrative expert, is being tapped to head the CIA. Retired Adm. Dennis Blair is Obama's choice to be director of national intelligence, a selection expected for weeks, according to two Democrats who spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama has not officially announced the choices. Obama is sending an unequivocal message that controversial administration policies approving harsh interrogations, waterboarding and extraordinary renditions — the secret transfer of prisoners to other governments with a history of torture — and warrantless wiretapping are over, said several officials. Earlier pick withdrew The search for Obama's new CIA chief had been stalled since November, when John Brennan, Obama's transition intelligence adviser, abruptly withdrew his name from consideration. And despite an internal list of former and current CIA officials who had impressive administrative credentials, all either worked in intelligence during the Bush administration's development of controversial policies on interrogation and torture or earlier, during the months leading up to the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Neither Panetta nor Blair are tainted by associations with Bush administration policies, in large part because they both come from outside the intelligence world. Blair was posted at the CIA for about a year.
A later e-mail: 'Senator Kit Bond, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, ... made the following comments on President-elect Obama's nomination of Leon Panetta as the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency: 'Job number one at the CIA is to track down and stop terrorists. In a post-9-11 world, intelligence experience would seem to be a prerequisite for the job of CIA Director.'
CIA chief Porter Goss abruptly and unexpectedly resigned his post yesterday, apparently pushed out by intelligence czar John Negroponte after less than two years leading an agency dogged by morale problems.
Senior administration officials told reporters following videotaped statements by Goss and George W. Bush that Negroponte, who was given the nation's top intelligence post by the U.S. president, had recently raised the prospect of the departure of the former Florida congressman.
Here is what Bush said of Goss when he appointed him in 2004:
"He knows the CIA inside and out," Bush said of Goss, who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and served as a clandestine CIA officer in the 1960s in Central America and Western Europe. "He's the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation's history."
Which proves that knowing the CIA inside and out doesn't necessarily make a good CIA head. Politico says Obama will be pushing Panetta's plusses:
THE CASE TEAM OBAMA WILL BE MAKING FOR PANETTA:
*Good manager -- recognized across the board for his management ability
*Foreign policy experience -- handled foreign policy as White House chief of staff, Bosnia war, etc...
*Intelligence -- as head of OMB, handled intelligence budget and other sensitive matters
*Bipartisanship -- good bipartisan support in Congress
--And a former colleague says don't forget: Calm and collected.
"I think he's going to be fine," senior adviser David Axelrod said. Of concerns that Panetta might not have enough experience with the CIA's culture, Axelrod said Panetta "will do well. He's tough and smart." Evan Bayh is with Feinstein. They like Steve Kappes, deputy chief of CIA.
