Panetta for CIA
Politics Daily — Filed under: Barack Obama, Breaking News, Obama AdministrationThe AP and the Times are reporting that Obama has chosen former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta to head the CIA: Panetta was a surprise pick for the post, with no experience in the intelligence world. An Obama transition official and another Democrat disclosed his nomination on a condition of anonymity since it was not yet public. Panetta was director of the Office of Management and Budget and a longtime congressman from California. He served on ...

Smoke Signals
Taylor Marsh — ... The New York Times is reporting that Obama’s choice for the C.I.A. is Leon Panetta. It continues the signals the president-elect sent earlier today on ...

War and Piece — | Main January 05, 2009 NYT : Leon Panetta to be named CIA director. Update : Former intelligence officials react to Panetta pick. Posted by Laura at January 5, 2009 02:27 PM

Panetta to CIA?
Talking Points Memo — That's what NBC is reporting. More soon. Late Update: NYT agrees. ...

Reports: Panetta Picked to Head CIA
The Page by Mark Halperin — ... The former Clinton White House chief of staff will be nominated by Obama to head the intelligence agency. NY Times: "...Panetta is a somewhat unusual choice to lead the C.I.A., an agency that has been unwelcoming to previous directors perceived as outsiders..."       ...

Panetta
Eschaton — I don't really have any opinions about Panetta - I probably once did, but memories of those days are becoming hazy - but I'm glad Obama has chosen someone to head the CIA who wasn't involved with torturing and driving inmates insane. ...

Obama selects Leon Panetta to head CIA.
Think Progress — ... NBC News reports that former Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta will be named as President Obama’s nominee to be CIA Director. Panetta, a former congressman from California, “has a reputation in Washington as a competent manager with strong background in budget issues, but has little hands-on intelligence experience,” writes the New York Times. ...

Panetta to CIA
Ben Smith's Blog — Obama picks a veteran politician and bureaucrat, Leon Panetta, over the more-often mentioned national security types to run the CIA. It's a mark, among other things, of the desire to make a clean break with the Bush Administration's interrogation policies, and the difficulty of finding an insider not implicated. He'd report to a retired admiral, Dennis Blair, expected to be named Director of National Intelligence.

Panetta Picked as CIA Director
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire — President-elect Obama has picked former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta to run the Central Intelligence Agency, the New York Times reports. ...

Leon Panetta: Obama's CIA Director, Reports Say
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — News networks are reporting that Leon Panetta, former congressman and White House chief of staff, will be President-elect Barack Obama's CIA director. The New York Times adds some background: 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 ...

Panetta to Be Named C.I.A. Director
Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News — ... 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. Mr. Deutch, now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Mr. Blair and Mr. Panetta were an “absolutely brilliant team,” and called Mr. Panetta a “talented and experienced manager of government and a widely respected person with congress.” Read more: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/panetta-t... /

Breaking: Bill Clinton’s Chief Of Staff Leon Panetta Picked To Head CIA
Pat Dollard | Young Americans — NY Times: 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 ...

From Chief of Staff to CIA Chief
The Corner on National Review Online — [image] [image] NRO BLOG ROW | THE CORNER | ARCHIVES SEARCH E-MAIL PRINT RSS [image] Monday, January 05, 2009 [image] From Chief of Staff to CIA Chief [ Kathryn Jean Lopez ] Panetta to the Central Intelligence Agency. 01/05 02:55 PM [image] [image] [image] © National Review Online 2009. All Rights Reserved. Home | Search | NR / Digital | Donate | Media Kit | Contact Us

Panetta to Head CIA
Firedoglake — ... Some coverage cites the difficulty in finding a DCI that wasn’t tarred by the Bush Administration’s proclivity to use torture, rendition, and illegal domestic surveillance as part of their intel efforts. ...

Panetta to head CIA
Political Animal — ... at the CIA, but like most rumors floated by Paul Bedard, this was both hard to believe and wrong. In a surprising move, Leon Panetta is getting the job . 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 ...

Clinton Retread With Little Intelligence Experience Nominated to Be CIA Director
JammieWearingFool — Is there anyone left from the Clinton administration not on board the Hopenchange Express? Well, I guess Bill Richardon is underneath it. Seriously though, Leon Panetta ? 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 ...

Monday, Monday, Monday!
Open Left - Front Page — ... to do so in the middle of an election year when she knows she has a good chance to be appointed to a high-level position if the Democratic candidate won and yet nonetheless eschewed standard, obfuscating Beltway politesse about these matters -- is someone whose appointment to such an important post is almost certainly a positive sign.  No praise is due Obama until he actually does things that merit praise, but it's hard not to consider this encouraging. Also, Leon Panetta to head the CIA. First reaction: better than the other names being floated, ...

Panetta To Head CIA
TalkLeft — NYTimes: 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. . . . Aides have said Mr. Obama had originally hoped to select a C.I.A. head with extensive field experience, especially in combating terrorist networks. But his first choice for the job, John O. Brennan, had to withdraw his ...

Reports: Panetta to CIA, Adm. Blair as Dir. of Nat'l Intel
News — ... President-elect Obama has chosen former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta to serve as CIA director and retired Adm. Dennis Blair to be his director of national intelligence, according to reports. By choosing Panetta, a former House member from California and President Clinton's top White House staffer, Obama has someone with no connection to the CIA's interrogation methods under the Bush administration, reports The New York Times . The agency had been criticized for using interview techniques, such as waterboarding, that amounted to torture. Blair, chief of the U.S. ...

Panetta to CIA
Swampland —

Obama Picks Anti-Torture Advocate for CIA Chief
MoJo Blog Posts: mojo — ... News outfits are reporting that Leon Panetta has been tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to take over the Central Intelligence Agency. ...

Panetta on Torture
Swampland — ... , multiple news outlets are reporting that Obama has found his next CIA director: Leon Panetta, who once quit the Nixon Administration in protest over his Civil Rights policy, and later became a chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. ...

Obama names Clinton crony who’s never worked in intelligence to head CIA
Hot Air » Top Picks — ... at the top. Not really. It’s about having a guy at the top who’s untainted by “torture.” So untainted, in fact, that he’s also untainted by any intel experience whatsoever . 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… Aides have said Mr. Obama ...

Pondering Panetta
Opinionator — Barack Obama, who might be running out of ex-Clinton staffers to fill his administration, has named Leon Panetta, the former congressman and White House chief of staff, to take over the Central Intelligence Agency. The Times’s Carl Hulse and Mark Mazzetti inform us that “Mr. Panetta has a reputation in Washington as a competent manager with strong background in budget issues, but has little hands-on intelligence experience.” Well, given the reputation of the C.I.A. these days, are we sure that’s a drawback? The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder ...

Obama Picks Ever Solid Centrist Panetta To Head CIA
The Moderate Voice — ... President Elect Barack Obama has picked what some consider a surprise choice to head the Central Intelligence Agency: Leon Panetta, a former White House chief of staff, former Congressman, critic of torture as a policy — and about as centrist and solid a public official on the scene today: ...

"No Torture. No Exceptions."
Obsidian Wings — ... by hilzoy From the NYT: "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." So, you might be wondering, what are Panetta's views on torture? As it happens, he wrote a piece called 'No Torture. No Exceptions.' in the Washington Monthly, about a year ...

Clintonista Leon Panetta To Be Named CIA Director
Pirate's Cove — ... 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. ...

Leon Panetta, Clintonista Incarnate, To Be Obama’s CIA Pick
Stop The ACLU — Not the most original of headlines, granted, but, gotta love the Change 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 ...

Another day, another clueless Clinton crony
Michelle Malkin — Wow. Today is just one big, bad joke. Al Franken. Roland Burris. Bill Richardson. Now this: Leon Panetta will head Obama’s CIA. Another day, another clueless Clinton crony named to a top job for which he has no experience. The unqualified fish rots from the head down, after all. Via NYT : 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 ...

Panetta to Manage the Unmanagable
Weekly Standard Blog — ... "Anybody with a brain realizes you can't trust the agency," said one Republican when I asked him about the appointment of Leon Panetta to run the CIA. So you take someone with a reputation as a competent manager and caretaker and install him there in the hopes that the agency does as little damage to you as possible. On the left, Obama supporters are quick to point to ...

Obama Names Man With Zero Intelligence Experience To Head Of CIA
Say Anything — Sure.  Why not. What’s the worst that could happen? 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. . . . Aides have said Mr. Obama had originally hoped to select a C.I.A. head with ...

The Panetta Choice
The Corner on National Review Online — ... ] So Leon Panetta seems a slightly odd choice to head the CIA. Why him? Well, drawing a few conclusions from this New York Times account , Obama had a hard time finding anyone with recent intelligence experience because those people have had to deal with the real-world problem of the war on terrorism and thus might be the target of lefty attacks. Better, for confirmation purposes at least, to get someone who has just criticized from the outside: Given his background, Mr. Panetta is a somewhat unusual choice to lead the C.I.A., an agency that has been unwelcoming to ...

You Know, I Knew I'd Find One of Obama's Appointments To Dislike,
Stubborn Facts — and this is definitely one of them. Can someone explain to me what experience Leon Panetta has, that makes him fit to head the CIA? 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, ...

Keep Your Friends Close
Jules Crittenden — ... . Unless they did … Clintonista turned Obamist/seasoned pol and bureaucrat Leon Panetta to head the CIA.  What if Hillary, already controlling State, with Congress afraid of her, just triangulated on the Bush Pentagon and the Obama White House? That’d be a clever girl. NYT’s Caucus  notes no intel depth, suggests the appointment may be headed for trouble already and hints that politics … anti-Bush “torture” politics in particular, might be behind the pick: President-elect Barack Obama has selected Leon E. Panetta, the former congressman and White House chief of staff, to ...

Obama Snubs Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein
Tennessee Guerilla Women — ... So Obama chose Leon Panetta to head the CIA and then he forgot to consult with, or bother to mention it to Dianne Feinstein, the incoming Chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence! ...

What happened to consultation?
Betsy's Page — ... IV, D-W.Va., who served as chairman of the committee in the 110th Congress: "I think, based on press reporting if it proves correct, Sen. Rockefeller has some concerns about his selection. Not because he has any concerns about Panetta, whom he thinks very highly of, but because he has no intelligence experience and because he has believed this has always been a position that should be outside of the political realm." It sounds as candidates with more experience in intelligence were rejected by those who objected to any connection with approving intelligence policies under ...

Leon Panetta as CIA Director
Outside The Beltway | OTB — ... When I saw the news yesterday afternoon that Leon Panetta was Barack Obama’s pick to head the CIA, I decided to hold off on posting and go play with my baby instead.  My initial reaction was much the same as to the news that Hillary Clinton was going to be the next Secretary of State — that it simply didn’t make sense given the lack of relevant experience — and I was in a distinct minority on that one, with the likes of Henry Kissinger praising the pick.   Not so much on Panetta. ...

Leon Panetta
Comments from Left Field — PEBO’s selection of a distinctly non-Company man to head the Central Intelligence Agency is raising a lot of eyebrows: 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. Yet the choice encountered ...

Obama Team Consulted Wyden on Panetta Pick -- But Shut Out Feinstein
TPM Election Central — ... 2. Is this a case of the New York Times getting the news before the transition could inform Feinstein ... or a case of a powerful senator kept in the dark on purpose? ...

1/6: Leon At Langley?
Blogometer — January 06, 2009 1/6: Leon At Langley? Although liberal bloggers don't exactly view ex-WH CoS Leon Panetta as a progressive champion, they're nevertheless pleased that he's been tapped by Pres.-elect Barack Obama to become the next CIA Director. Why? Because Panetta is an ...

Obama's chooses Panetta, with help from Wyden?
BlueOregon — ... It's apparent that while Feinstein may have reservations about Panetta to head the CIA, part of her public display on this may be due the fact that the New York Times knew about the choice before she did. ...

The Netroots Heart Panetta
Hotline On Call Part Deux — ... Although liberal bloggers don't exactly view ex-WH CoS Leon Panetta as a progressive champion, they're nevertheless pleased that he's been tapped by Pres.-elect Barack Obama to become the next CIA dir. Why? Because Panetta satisfies the netroots' primary criterion for the position: he's an outspoken ...

1/7: Standing Up For Panetta
Blogometer — January 07, 2009 1/7: Standing Up For Panetta The blogosphere is still buzzing about Barack Obama 's reported decision to tap ex-WH CoS Leon Panetta as CIA dir. After news of the selection provoked a ...

Name That Party - Special CYA With The CIA Edition
JustOneMinute — ... . On Friday, the speaker issued a statement defending her previous account. What?  The CIA was describing future plans rather than past actions and that makes it OK?  How does Congressional oversight work in Pelosi-world - conspiring to commit war crimes in the future gets a pass, but actually committing them is a problem? The Times moves on: Leon Panetta threw her a lifeline.  Hmm, is that Leon Panetta, career intelligence professional?  Not exactly - how about, Leon Panetta, career Democratic pol?  Ms. Pelosi's non-exuse excuses nothing, since she dmits to being a ...