CIA: The Panetta Pick and the Feinstein Factor

President-elect Barack Obama's presents his picks for the nation's intel leadership: Leon Panetta as CIA director and Admiral Dennis Blair as director of national intelligence.

President-elect Barack Obama named his top intelligence leadership team on Friday. And, as I expected, new Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein rather quickly backed down from her opposition to Leon Panetta and championing of a CIA insider for the post, of only a few days ago. The whole exercise was very instructive in old and new political dynamics.

Feinstein, a very entitled senator from my hometown of San Francisco, embarrassed Obama early last week by saying no one had consulted her on the next director of the CIA -- who is her old friendly California colleague Leon Panetta -- and going on to allow as how she thought Panetta wasn't qualified for the post.

"I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I've read," she declared. "My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.'"

Not long after, she reversed course, declaring former White House chief of staff, federal budget director and California Congressman Panetta -- a very public opponent of the torture policy that was adopted during Feinstein's tenure as a senior Intelligence Committee member -- to be qualified where just a day before she had deemed him "unqualified."

The fact is that Feinstein was miffed by the Obama team's lack of interest in her opinion, and concerned that her own pick -- a career insider easily tied to the wildly controversial policies of the Bush/Cheney administration -- wasn't taken seriously for the top spot.

Bush political guru Karl Rove and Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly discuss why Leon Panetta is a bad choice for CIA director and the Bush/Cheney approach on torture was best.

Which only pointed up how out of touch California's senior senator really was with regard to the obvious dominant atmospherics of American politics after America's reputation was dragged through the mud by the torture policy, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and more.

Real life is not an episode of 24, which has also backed off some from its increasing torture motif. Under pressure from U.S. Army brass, which told the hit show's producers that their easy storytelling crutch was giving the troops in Iraq the wrong idea about how to get information. Not that Feinstein isn't aware of this.

Senator Dianne Feinstein's 2006 re-election TV ad against a hapless far right Republican nominee.

California's senior senator is an estimable figure, perhaps too estimable for her own judgment in these matters. She was seriously considering getting out of politics 30 years ago when a conservative ex-San Francisco supervisor (SF is a combo city and county) murdered the mayor. She'd lost a mayoral race, the Symbionese Liberation Army had blown up her mailbox on Presidio Terrace. (Where she no longer lives.) Then Dan White, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who wanted to reverse his hasty resignation from office, changed her life forever by assassinating Mayor George Moscone, who had refused to reappoint the wacky local pol after he resigned in a fit of pique over the emerging social liberalism of the City by the Bay.

White also assassinated San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay major elected official in American history, who ironically had befriended the troubled conservative local pol. (See the very fine film Milk, with great performances by Sean Penn as Harvey Milk and Josh Brolin as Dan White.)

The twin killings by White -- who got off easy on the notorious "Twinkie" defense and later killed himself -- elevated Feinstein, then president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (read: city council) to the city's mayoralty. Because of her dignity upon taking over the office in such spectacularly tragic circumstances, Feinstein became a mostly unassailable icon.

She rode that into a should-have-won campaign for governor of California in 1990, then an easy win to replace then Governor Pete Wilson in the U.S. Senate in 1992.

Then, blessed with a very wealthy husband who's done very well in some controversial investments involving China and government contracts, she became a fixture on the Washington scene, a respected middle-of-the-road Democrat who routinely makes a lot of noise about returning to California and running for governor. As she did in 1998, deciding finally not to run after some questions were raised about business dealings, and during the recall of 2003. Both times I predicted she wouldn't run. Feinstein had been talking it up again, before she took the chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee -- something not entered into lightly or on a short-term basis -- as I expected.

In becoming a fixture on the intel panel, Feinstein's behavior demonstrated how she could have been so out of tune last week as to call for the appointment of a CIA director who could be easily linked to the practices Obama has made clear must end.

Feinstein didn't raise alarms about the establishment of the notorious prison at Guantanamo, the adoption of torture (a generally unreliable approach to interrogation, in addition to its moral and Geneva Convention problems) as national policy, or the Bush/Cheney move to circumvent the rubber-stamp FISA court and remove all real accountability from massive program of surveillance.

Despite, or perhaps because of, being heavily briefed by the top intelligence professionals she touts for the top posts, she was fooled by cooked-up intel to support the invasion of Iraq on the basis of non-existent weapons of mass destruction. And it took quite awhile for the senator to acknowledge that the war, after the initial invasion phase, was being very badly handled.

She went along with the Bush/Cheney move to adopt what author Ron Suskind calls "the one percent doctrine," Vice President Dick Cheney's notion that if there's a one person chance of a terror plot existing, it should be treated as if it is a certainty.

This is akin to basing your approach to intelligence as if every situation is an episode of 24. But life usually isn't an entertaining TV show.

That's hysteria masquerading as rationality.

Feinstein's candidate for CIA director, current Deputy Director Stephen Kappes, is a respected professional. But he couldn't be appointed to the top job by Obama, as should have been obvious to Feinstein.

Of course, a toxic operation rots its staff from the top down. A career professional can stick around or leave. Which Kappes actually did at one point during Porter Goss's tumultuous tenure in Langley. But not because of the agency's controversial, wrongheaded policies, but apparently because of a personnel dispute. And he wasn't gone long.

Before he left, as head of the operations division, Kappes was very involved with the Iraq WMD issue. That would play very badly in a public hearing, as Feinstein should understand. And, of course, CIA in that period was knee-deep in torture, renditions, and so on.

Kappes may well stay on as deputy director of the agency. But since he's already deputy director, there won't be a big Senate hearing on him, as there would have been had Feinstein had her way and he was the new CIA director-designate.

CIA Director-designate Leon Panetta addresses the Governors' Global Climate Summit in November in LA, hosted by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The truth is, Panetta makes a great deal of sense as CIA director. As even John McCain said at the end of last week: "I think that Leon Panetta is highly qualified, and in all due respect I think it is not bad from time to time to have somebody from outside of the intelligence community but with strong managerial experience as Chief of Staff of the White House, to be head of one of these agencies. I think there is some good balance there."

Panetta, who is not at all tied to the Bush/Cheney policies, having spent most of the past decade running a California-based think tank -- and having been a key member of the Iraq Study Group, which came up with a moderate way out of Iraq -- can be an honest broker in and for a deeply troubled agency.

During the Bush/Cheney years, the CIA has gone from the heights of managing a swiftly successful proxy and special ops war in Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 to the depths of cooked-up Iraq WMD reports and the morass of torture and rendition.

Panetta reflects a clear break from those recent disasters, as well as a strong manager with a lot of experience as a high-level consumer of intelligence. He knows the sort of things a president needs to know in order to make decisions. He's a team builder, and there are few critical agencies -- and the CIA is a very critical agency in a dangerous and complex world -- that have more need to be remade into a highly-functioning team than the CIA.

Feinstein, miffed though she undoubtedly was by not being consulted by the incoming president, should have let go of the baggage of the Bush/Cheney past and recognized that immediately.

And you can check things out during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com

Comments

[SailFree]

I predict that one of Obama's greatest national security risks will be Joe Biden.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Yeah, right ...

[truthiness091101]

Between Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi, I feel as if I am living in a Republican stronghold, right here in San Francisco. As a proud feminist, I am so ashamed of both of them. They have done NOTHING substantive to stand up to the Bush Administrations' marauding through our Constitutional rights and long-standing laws. I have given up on the Demoncrats, and moved on to the Greens - ineffectual, but with integrity, at least!

[ArchAngel]

How likely is it that these fake Democrats could be defeated in primaries?

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

You're ashamed of Nancy Pelosi?!

Okay then ...

[AnotherMcIntosh]

What motivates Feinstein?

Her history shows she entered the political scene not as a champion of liberal causes but as a spouse and friend of commerical developers. She and they wanted to overcome the building-height restrictions in SF and other zoning limitations. The succeeded with the BofA building and others. They also wanted more foreign trade.

You said that White was a "wacky local pol" who "resigned in a fit of pique over the emerging social liberalism of the City by the Bay." Was that it? Actually, his resignation was related to certain commercial development and a related expose. A SF "underground newspaper" revealed a connection between a vote to allow Pier 39 to be developed and a receipt of resturant leases on Pier 39. White resigned. The others did not.

When the storm blew over and it then appeared that a "technicality" would prevent White from having his potato resturant, he wanted his job back. Was he opposed to social liberalism? He was, I suggest, more opposed to being unemployed and watching those Supervisors with business dealings continue to succeed and mock him. Disrespect is a powerful motivator. White would have shot Willie Brown, a black hetrosexual, if he would have found him.

Feinstein has been one of those political powerhouses whose activities have been responsible, in part, for the outsourcing of jobs to foreign contries. Having high-level friends in the CIA is important to her.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

I was around and don't recall the "underground newspaper" rendition of events you mention.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

The underground newspaper was sold in a series of newspaper racks chained together close to the front of the two entrances of City Hall. The Dan White, et al. story was on page one, while it was ignored by the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, for a running three weeks. One edition showed White's picture.

Pier 39 was initially zoned and used as a storage facility. It became available during the tenure of Feinstein-­Brown-Whit­e-Milk-et-­al as an empty facility, along with other piers, when the shipping companies moved their operations to the Oakland side to a more friendly port that allowed containerization.

Some money people then wanted to modify and use Pier 39 as a tourist area. As you know, it's only a few blocks away from Fishermen's Wharf. The problem was that the Board of Supervisors would have to first approve a zoning change and the resturant owners at Fishermen's Wharf didn't want the additional competition.

Two votes were taken. During the first vote, Dan White voted against a zoning change. During the second one, he changed his vote. That's what set the events in motion. The reporter for the underground newspaper went to the Recorder's officer and began looking. His discovery is what he reported.

It would be hard to find one of these throw-away newspapers, but you may be able to find one of the old-timers who were at City Hall. Is Quentin Kopp still around?

[edwcorey]

"During the Bush/Cheney years, the CIA has gone from the heights of managing a swiftly successful proxy and special ops war in Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 to the depths of cooked-up Iraq WMD reports and the morass of torture and rendition."

The CIA is as short-sighted as the heads of the financial sector. They created the mujahideen, then abandoned them in Afghanistan after these proxies defeated the Soviets. This, along with other foreign-relations blunders, led to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. The fighters can be likened to U.S. workers whose bosses raid their pension funds, fire them, and abandon them. Most foreign-relations and security problems can be traced to the CIA, which is a nest of murderers and human-rights violators masquerading as "patriots." They're just part of the propaganda that keeps American citizens fearful and beholden to the military-industrial complex.

[BottomLine2008]

Oh, really.

What radio show did you "learn" that on?

>>>>The CIA is as short-sighted as the heads of the financial sector. They created the mujahideen, then abandoned them in Afghanistan after these proxies defeated the Soviets.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

There are many things to be laid at the feet of the CIA.

It did not, however, create the mujahideen.

The errors begin there ...

[scooperss]

Maybe she wasn't looking for a *clear break* in the policies at the CIA.

[BottomLine2008]

I guess not. You think she could read or watch TV and see which way the wind is blowing.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Clearly not ...

[serena1313]

Ulterior motives and hidden agendas are self-serving, sometimes dangerously so.

I don't know what Feinstein thought opposing Panetta would accomplish, however, she came off as a woman scorned, out to settle a score. Rove is a little less transparent escapes that perception.

Both say Panetta has no intelligence background whatsoever, but as Clinton's WH Chief-of-Staff, he had the highest level security clearances, attended intelligence briefings and later served on the Iraq Study Group. The Senator's statement that only career intelligence professionals qualify is contradicted by six former non-career CIA Directors.

Although a little off subject but still relevant pertaining to transparency. Rove's all too familiar signature handprint makes maintaining anonymity while working behind the scenes impossible. His signature is stamped all over Arlen Specter attacks on Holden. Well-known for aggressively pursuing corrupt politicians, Holden is the last person Rove would want to be Attorney General.

Feinstein's self-serving attempt to derail Panetta is one thing, aiding-and-abetting Bush is quite another. Rove has no qualms about making baseless claims, lying and/or doing whatever it takes to end careers and destroy lives. One is ruthless, the other is ruthless and dangerous. Neither serve the public good.

[Jesster]

I've often wondered about the nature of her husband's business dealings and how that might influence her positions on certain critical issues. Her performance throughout the Bush/Cheney years has been consistently disappointing.

I have no idea what she hoped to gain or accomplish with such a public display of displeasure over Obama's choice of Panetta. She did momentarily knock the Obama team off of it's stride, mostly she just embarrassed himself, by looking petty, indiscreet and self-absorbed.

I don't know how the good folks in the Bay area are seeing all of this, but from here in the Midwest, her job looks like it's pretty ripe for the picking by any formidable challenger...

[stevi]

I'm from the Bay Area and the only reason I've voted for Diane is that there are always ultra conservatives like Dan Lungren, running against her. Given the circumstances Diane has been the wiser choice. I do hold my nose when I vote for her and her husband. He is always in the back of my mind. Her political ideals are for sure impacted by his job. She is a very conservative Democrat at best.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

That was definitely a factor in her not running for governor in 1998, as I pointed out at the time.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

This was a big mistake by Feinstein.

[Manx]

Feinstein has devoted so much of her time working on an amendment to make flag burning a crime, she's out to lunch on other issues.

[BottomLine2008]

I thought she dropped that years ago.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Correct.

[bascombe]

feinstein is DLC. which means repuglican with a 'd'

[Cesaria]

Diane has been a Democrat in name only for so long she's out of touch with a lot of things.

[BottomLine2008]

I do like that Panetta talk on climate change.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

He's good in it.

[BottomLine2008]

Wow, Rove and O'Reilly are in rare form in that footage. They're going to keep the wingnuts in a permanent vegetative state with that blither blather.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

That is embarrassing footage for O'Reilly, essentially a caricature now, and Rove, the wizard of Oz sans curtain ...

[BottomLine2008]

Has Feinstein ever beaten anybody we've heard of?

[BottomLine2008]

That was a good press conference with Obama and Panetta and Blair.

Obama said it. No torture, no Gitmo.

[BottomLine2008]

Feinstein is just out of it. This was an embarrassing performance by her.

[pilotsknob]

Di, What were you thinking? Trying to embarass our new prez-elect just doesn't cut it. I hope you aren't thinking of running again for Senate or Governor, because you lost my vote for good...... and most likely alot of other voters from the Bay Area. Did you forget that 3/4 of voters in our area voted overwhelmingly for Obama and have 100% confidence in his ability to do the right thing?????

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

She was being quite self-absorbed.