Barack Obama sent a message with the selection of Rahm Emanuel as his
chief of staff, but apparently didn’t think enough people understood
it. He sent a stronger message yesterday with his choice of Leon Panetta for Director of CIA,
and this time, it’s unmistakable. Political considerations will trump
competence and experience, even in the most critical roles Obama has to
fill
The US is currently fighting an asymmetrical war on two hot fronts,
but more to the point, in every corner of the world. We need our best
people at the helm at Defense and in the intelligence arenas, people
with insight into the problems and challenges facing America at war.
Barack Obama either doesn’t understand that or cares less about
security than he does about politics.
Leon Panetta only has indirect experience with intelligence. As
budget director in the Clinton administration, Panetta has familiarity
with their funding, and Panetta also served on the Iraq Study Group for
several months, which looked at the role that intelligence failures
played in our invasion and during the occupation. There must be
thousands of people more qualified to run the CIA from an experience
and competence standpoint, including several members of Congress,
notably Jane Harman, who should have chaired the House Intelligence
Committee in the last session of Congress but ran afoul of Nancy Pelosi.
Even the notion of “change” doesn’t apply here. Obama has no
executive experience in government, and neither does Panetta, but
Panetta hardly represents a breath of fresh air in Washington. He’s
another Clinton-era retread, only in this case, put in charge of an
organization about which he knows nothing. He’s there to exercise
Obama’s political will and nothing more.
Obama deserves the benefit of the doubt on his political
appointments, but this is one selection that should get a lot of
scrutiny from Congress. If Obama wants a political hatchet man in a
high-level appointment, have Panetta run OMB — or Commerce, where
there’s a late opening. America deserves the benefit of experience and
wisdom in the position of CIA director.