Clarke, a former senior counter-terrorism official in the Bush administration who became an outspoken critic of the president after the Sept. 11 attacks, acknowledged in an interview that he had been approached "repeatedly" about various national security positions.
"It wasn't so much this position," Clarke said of his rejection of the CIA job, "as it was that I didn't want to go back in right now."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, January 08, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 41 words Type of Material: Correction
CIA director: An article in Wednesday's Section A about the selection of Leon E. Panetta as CIA director described the job as a Cabinet position. A CIA director must be confirmed by the Senate, but it is not a Cabinet post.
The only surprise about the Panetta nomination, Clarke said, "is that he's willing to take it."
As a result of intelligence reform legislation, many think the CIA post has lost some of its luster. The director is no longer the highest-ranking U.S. intelligence official and does not routinely participate in morning briefings with the president.
Obama said Panetta had "extraordinary management skills," was politically savvy and "fully versed in international affairs and crisis management."
But current and former U.S. intelligence officials continued to question the Panetta and Blair selections, with some suggesting that each should have been given the other post.
Unlike Panetta, Blair has CIA experience, having served a year at the agency's headquarters as a military liaison. He also has held a series of high-level defense positions around the world, including head of U.S. military operations in the Pacific.
Panetta is mainly known for his expertise in budgetary matters and his skill at navigating government bureaucracies -- talents that might be useful to a director of national intelligence charged with overseeing a $40-billion collection of agencies.
Early on, Obama was expected to offer the CIA job to one of his senior intelligence advisors, John Brennan, an agency veteran who had helped set up the nation's counter-terrorism center.
But Brennan withdrew from consideration after he was criticized by liberal groups because his tenure coincided with controversial Bush administration programs, including secret CIA prisons and disputed interrogation techniques.
Brennan was not directly involved in the programs. But once he dropped out, some intelligence officials think the Obama team had boxed itself in.
"They ruled out a whole generation of people who had worked in intelligence," the former agency official said.
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greg.miller@latimes.com
peter.nicholas@latimes.com
James Oliphant in the Washington bureau contributed to this report.
