An Intelligence Professional in Charge

Dianne Feinstein, pushing back against Obama's choice for CIA Director, Leon Panetta, says that "the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge."

Remember that, for the past five or six years, most of the "intelligence professionals" operating at the CIA have been involved in one way or another with Bush's rendition and torture policy (including 11 year agent and former Bush CIA head Porter Goss). Also note that current Defense Secretary Robert Gates is the only career CIA man ever to helm the Agency- most of the directors (Tenet, George H.W. Bush, William Webster) had tangential intelligence experience before taking the helm, but were never line agents.

Panetta, as a four term congressman and Clinton's chief of staff for three years, has an enormous amount of national security experience. The president's CoS knows everything that's going on in the government, including the intelligence and national security apparatus. Add to this that Panetta is an exceptionally strong administrator, has a good relationship with Obama, and has unequivocally denounced the use of torture, and this looks like a good pick to me.