Leon Panetta will head Obama’s CIA.
New York Times via Michelle Malkin -
President-elect Barack Obama has selected Leon E. Panetta, the former congressman and White House chief of staff, to take over the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization that Mr. Obama criticized during the campaign for using interrogation methods he decried as torture, Democratic officials said Monday.
Mr. Panetta has a reputation in Washington as a competent manager with strong background in budget issues, but has little hands-on intelligence experience. If confirmed by the Senate, he will take control of the agency most directly responsible for hunting senior Al Qaeda leaders around the globe, but one that has been buffeted since the Sept. 11 attacks by leadership changes and morale problems.
Given his background, Mr. Panetta is a somewhat unusual choice to lead the C.I.A., an agency that has been unwelcoming to previous directors perceived as outsiders, such as Stansfield M. Turner and John M. Deutch. But his selection points up the difficulty Mr. Obama had in finding a C.I.A. director with no connection to controversial counterterrorism programs of the Bush era.
“He’s a surprise choice for the post, given his lack of intelligence… experience.” – AP
Here’s the only evidence of Leon Panetta’s qualifications. Not only is it not at all encouraging, it reads like, well… a blog post.
You know that Jennifer Granholm for Commerce Secretary thing? That was satire. This is just a really bad joke.
Add another one to the list...
Excellent insight here from Ed Morrissey.
Even the notion of “change” doesn’t apply here. Obama has no executive experience in government, and neither does Panetta, but Panetta hardly represents a breath of fresh air in Washington. He’s another Clinton-era retread, only in this case, put in charge of an organization about which he knows nothing. He’s there to exercise Obama’s political will and nothing more.
Subscribe to Jane’s daily email.
Subscribe to Jane Q. by RSS Feed.
3 Comments
January 6, 2009 at 2:16 am
I recently wrote a post on his pick.
Obama basically avoided all the viable candidates in order to avoid associating with Bush at all costs.
January 6, 2009 at 9:10 am
What’s the name of your book?
What a great criteria for the appointment of our spy-in-chief. I am so encouraged.
January 6, 2009 at 11:39 am
[...] Today’s Coup De Grâce « Jane Q. Republican [...]