panetta & the cia Options

[brooklyneast05]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Could someone without intelligence experience effectively lead the United States' top spy agency, particularly in a time of war?

Two Democratic sources told CNN on Monday that President-elect Barack Obama will nominate longtime Washington power broker Leon Panetta to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.

The news provoked strong emotions in political and intelligence circles.

full story


what do you guys think about appointing someone to lead the CIA who doesn't have intelligence experience?

[brooklyneast05]

yeah i'm not sure either way really i guess. i don't initially think it's a great idea to put someone in charge that doesn't have experience there. but, if you take someone who has good qualifications, smart, respected, and reason to believe they'd be able to make good decisions and what not and then surround them by people who ARE intelligence experts...i think it'll probably alright.

plus some are saying this:

They said Panetta worked closely with President Bill Clinton and his senior aides on every national security issue that came through the White House between 1994 and 1997 while becoming a sophisticated consumer of intelligence during Clinton's daily CIA briefings.

so it's not like he's never had anything to do with or knows anything about intelligence at all.