Team Obama seem to be indicating that Leon Panetta will be named head of the CIA. Mr. Panetta is a very fine, likeable person. He undoubtedly would be an excellent choice as Chief of Staff to the next president, a post he held under President Clinton, or other cabinet level positions.
However, appointing Mr. Panetta as head of the CIA would be like naming a non-lawyer as General Counsel of a major corporation. The President ultimately makes policy decisions based on the intelligence provided by the CIA and other intelligence services. Having another political-policy person between the President and the CIA adds no value.
The CIA needs to be run by someone with experience in the business, who knows the behind-the-scenes realities of intelligence gathering and analysis, the weaknesses as well as the strengths of that business. Even as Chief of Staff under President Clinton, Mr. Panetta was a customer rather than a provider of intelligence information.
The many, very public failures of the CIA in the past few years demand a thorough house cleaning. Panetta may have the political skill and strength to take such action, but does he have either the knowledge or the credibility to do so?
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