Leon Panetta Obama

Visiting the Central Intelligence Agency to swear in Leon E. Panetta as the agency's 19th director, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said the Bush a...

WASHINGTON — CIA Director-nominee Leon Panetta formally retracted a statement he made Thursday that the Bush administration transferred prisoner...

Feinstein's call for the appointment of a CIA director who can be linked to the practices Obama has made clear must end demonstrates how out of touch she is on intelligence.

John Brennan has been a valuable asset to the Obama team and will continue to be a loyal servant in his new role. He will provide valuable insight into Bush's intelligence policy formulation, such as it was.

The CIA's spokesman came down out of his tree to let us know the CIA is not happy that everyone thinks it's an agency that could use some fixing by the likes of Leon Panetta.

I conducted a poll about what spies thought of the Panetta choice. The results: "Obama was wise" to choose someone out of the torture loop to run the CIA. But there's a problem.

It is perhaps not widely known that there has been a major change in the intelligence agencies' personnel since 9/11. Some 50% of intel community staffers have joined since 9/11.

Cleaning out our stable of intelligence officials is a Herculean task. We are lucky to have men like Dennis Blair and Leon Panetta willing to sacrifice for the good of the nation.

Leon Panetta is a patriot, a veteran, and a consensus builder, and he will lead the CIA forthrightly and in full respect for the law and the Constitution. I frankly cannot think of a better choice.

Despite a nearly flawless transition period of astute, substantive and widely praised cabinet appointments, the Obama administration has unintentionally provoked its first controversy.

If the Obama administration is serious about fixing US intelligence, there is a compelling logic to putting Panetta in charge at CIA.

The next time you find yourself getting pissed off at Obama, say these words out loud,"George Bush."

To say Panetta is a Clinton retread is to ignore his actual background. He comes out of a tradition which is almost forgotten today, that of the liberal Republican.

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.

Leon Panetta is an "unconventional" choice for CIA Director, a word Caroline Kennedy used to describe herself, but consider the corruption inherent in the more conventional options.

Having frozen Panetta out of the California governor's race in 1998 by not deciding whether to run until he had no chance of lining up financial backing, now would be a good time to stand aside and let him rise to the occasion.

UPDATE 1/06: Marc Ambinder reports that President-elect Obama is confident that Leon Panetta won't face serious opposition, despite Democratic Senator...