Plans for Panetta as CIA chief meet with resistance

Washington: In choosing Leon Panetta to be the next CIA director, President-elect Barack Obama appears to have concluded that a spy chief who understands politics might be more important than one who understands espionage in carrying out the incoming administration's national security agenda.

The surprise pick of Panetta, a former congressman and chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, would give Obama a Central Intelligence Agency director with unquestioned loyalty to the White House and an experienced managerial hand to steer the incoming administration away from potential intelligence scandals.

But the selection runs the risk of putting an outsider at the helm of the CIA just as the agency seemed to be regaining its footing after years of criticism for intelligence failures leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the Iraq war, and for the aggressive interrogation tactics used in their aftermath.

If confirmed by the Senate, Panetta would be among the few directors in agency history with no prior experience at one of the nation's spy services. Largely for that reason, Panetta's selection was met with criticism on Capitol Hill.

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who this week begins her tenure as the first female head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she was not consulted on the choice and indicated she might oppose it.

"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."

A senior aide to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the outgoing chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the senator "would have concerns" about Panetta's 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."

However, the choice of Panetta was praised by others who see him as an outsider who can bring accountability and reform to an agency accused of human-rights abuses during the Bush administration.

"We need the CIA to collect reliable, actionable intelligence in ways that respect American values and honour the Constitution," said Republican Rush Holt, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee's oversight sub-panel.

Panetta would step into the post at a time when the CIA is trying to stay abreast of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the pursuit of Al Qaida and other terrorist groups.

- Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service