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Monday, January 05, 2009

Clinton's Chief of Staff to Head CIA

Leon Panetta, Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff, who has zero experience in anything related to security or foreign intelligence, is being tapped by Obama to head the CIA.

Unfortunately, the little known secret is that the CIA is in many ways nothing more than an extension of the partisan, bureaucratic State Department, where job security, seniority and Beltway insider status count more than national security. Previous Bush appointee Porter Goss was unwelcome because he didn't tolerate insubordination, leaks or general ineptitude. Hayden was definitely more of a status quo guy who didn't want to shake things up too much. And now Leon Panetta is the ultimate status quo, bureaucratic, Beltway "yes man," willing to do anything (or more appropriately, nothing) to pad his resume.