Leon Panetta is Obama's pick for CIA director
The former California congressman and Clinton aide would take over as the spy agency faces controversy and criticism. Some question his lack of experience in intelligence gathering.
Reporting from Washington — President-elect Barack Obama has selected Leon E. Panetta, a former California 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, including the intelligence failures leading up to the 9/11 attacks and the aggressive tactics that were embraced in their 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.
He would step into the post at a time when the CIA is struggling to stay abreast of the demands of the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the pursuit of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
The move was seen as a sign that Obama considered it more important to have a steady political hand and astute manager at the helm of the agency, rather than someone with deep operational experience.
In picking Panetta, Obama risks raising anew questions about the politicization of the CIA, a concern cited by leading congressional officials.
A senior aide to Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), outgoing chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the senator "would have concerns" about a Panetta nomination.
Rockefeller "thinks very highly of Panetta," the aide said. "But he's puzzled by the selection. He has concerns because he has always believed that the director of CIA needs to be someone with significant operational intelligence experience, and someone outside the political realm."
The Obama team had struggled for weeks to find a suitable candidate for the CIA post, after passing over former high-ranking agency official John Brennan last month, largely because he was seen as to closely tied to the controversial policies of the Bush administration.
Panetta would report to retired Adm. Dennis Blair, who was picked by Obama last month to serve as the director of national intelligence, a new position created in 2004 to oversee the operations of the CIA and the other 15 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community.
