Obama and the CIA

Spies and covert operations do not strike me as progressive subjects but after a long break from blogging my thoughts about the election I am ready to write and post again. Doing so might be a life preserver for my sanity which is seriously in danger since I became the legal, financial and health guardian for my dad, who is now living in my home. More on that later.

Like everyone else I arched an eyebrow when President Elect Obama announced his selection of Leon Panetta to head the CIA. I agreed with DiFi who is not crazy about the choice. The LA Times quotes her as saying,

"I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA director," Feinstein said. "My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time."

But then I read my favorite blog, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish. The Dish is a great resource, doing what the best blogs do, surveying the web for news, commentary and humor, and dishing it up in well written, concise posts that keep me coming back for more several times each day. Today in this post Sullivan reports that the Panetta appointment has the support of neo-cons, Richard Perle, Chariman of President Bush's Defense Policy Board, and of Douglas Feith, who was Undersecretary of Defense for Policy under GW. Sullivan links to Ben Smith's post in POLITICO and to Michael Ledeen's opinion in NRO.

The take away quotes:
from Ledeen:

I always liked Panetta. He served in the Army and is openly proud of it. He seems to be a good lawyer (oxymoronic though it may seem). He's a good manager. And he's going to watch Obama's back at a place that's full of stilettos and a track record for attempted presidential assassination second to none.........I think it is a smart move.

from Perle:

Panetta is'a very smart, very capable guy with a lot of experience - I think he's the right sort of person to take a shot at improving the place.

Perle is a big critic of the CIA also said,

It's going to take somebody from outside to right that ship, if it can be done.

from Feith,

possible implication of appointing somebody from the outside is that the president recognizes that there are serious problems at the CIA and he wants somebody who is not a part of those problems,

Once again our President-Elect is demonstrating intelligence, political courage and skill in consensus building. Fingers crossed that water-boarding and illegal renditions are over. Then we can, once again, be authentically proud of the American tradition of dedication to human rights. Cool.