Dni

John Brennan's role as a top national security honcho in the Obama administration shows the limitations of Obama's "look to the future, not to the past" mantra.

Over the past week, a triple-whammy of developing national security stories reminded Americans and the Obama administration that the past is a stubborn thing.

The outsourcing of intelligence has impacted nearly every aspect of intelligence operations, and Congress wants to know how and why.

The Obama team portrayed Leon Panetta as a no-nonsense Beltway veteran who would 'fix' the CIA. Over the past few weeks, however, he has emerged as an obstacle to real reform and accountability at the CIA.

Placing an inexperienced person like Leon Panetta at CIA for his clean hands and "managerial expertise" will cost lives on the day of the next domestic terrorist attack.

At the CIA I knew, the consequences for taking a day of sick leave adjacent to a weekend were far greater than the consequences of say, leaving classified documents in the back of a rental car.