Panetta Pick For CIA Post A Puzzler

Even the SF Chronicle is puzzled.

The reported selection of Panetta, 70, who was White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton and previously director of the Office of Management and Budget, caused a flurry of head-scratching among former intelligence operatives and policy analysts Monday, mainly because Panetta has no real experience in either intelligence or foreign policy, the bread-and-butter of the spy agency.

Apparently, Obama wants to politicize an agency that has no business being politicized, either that or he owes some serious favors.

It's important to note that Panetta is a SF Bay native, imprinted with the prevailing ideology of the region. But as we read further, we can see that not all elected officials from the area are impressed with this appointment:

"I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA director," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who will chair the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in the 111th Congress. "My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time."

I have always had a certain level of respect for Sen. Feinstein, not for her policies or positions on the issues, but for the way she has conducted herself. She is a lady and conducts herself in a highly professional manner, while many leftists have been uncouth and downright unprofessional, in their disagreements with the current Administration.

But now I can find another reason to respect her, as she appears to understand the importance of having in this position, someone that knows and understands intelligence as a discipline. If only she will follow through with this apprehension she has already communicated. There is no room for politics here, not in this area, not at this point in time of our existence as a nation. Talk is cheap, actions are golden.

Here's the thing, the best person to run anything specialized is someone that has worked in the field. Ideally, you want an engineer (maybe with an MBA) to run a huge engineering firm. If you are electing a county sheriff, you would prefer the candidate you support to have law enforcement experience. It's not hard to understand, is it?

What we are seeing here is the need for Obama to appease his leftist base, especially after antagonizing them by keeping Gates in the Defense Department. Their collective mouths dropped on that one, I am quite sure.

But this isn't the only reason he wants Panetta in this position. One major secondary gain he gets with this nominee is Obama's future ability to micromanage the agency. Picking someone that knows intelligence would not be as easy for Obama to control. The concern in this is, the agency's upper echelon may not keep the proposed director completely in the loop. This will make it difficult for Obama to have adequate oversight.

No one need say that Panetta shouldn't be part of the government, return favor or not. Return favors have always been part of the selection process, and they always will be. He is qualified to run something, just not something as important as this.

But here's a thought that the President-Elect should ponder in his musings. Richardson is history, why not give Panetta the Commerce job? His resume will support this appointment. Then, take another hard look at who needs paid back with the necessary credentials. Long story short, problem solved.

This will benefit his Administration in at least a couple of ways.

1. He will have a working knowledge of how things are and what is the reality of the situation, thus giving Obama the necessary knowledge to make his decisions. He doesn't need a political ass-kisser telling him what he wants to hear.

2. This saves the potential for embarassment later. If the upper echelon were to keep Panetta out of the know, there is a real risk of something blowing up with Panetta getting the blame for it. From a political perspective, this will also damage Obama's judgment. (Something, many of us questioned during the campaign.)

It's not too late to reverse this. If Obama faces opposition from enough of his own party, he will need to rethink it anyway. He may not have a choice and this isn't the way he wants to start off his term. But, he can minimize the damage by reshuffling this around. I do believe more people will respect him when he admits his error and corrects it. Even people that don't support him will be forced to give him credit, for a certain measure of humility (even if, it's only privately).

If he does not back away from this on his own, I hope Sen. Feinstein stands her ground. And I hope others join her. It's too critical of an area.



Addendum: AC at Fore Left has some thoughts on this.