Mazzetti, Mark, and Carl Hulse. "Panetta Is Chosen as C.I.A. Chief, in a Surprise Step." New York Times, 6 Jan. 2009. [http://www.nytimes.com]Materials arranged chronologically.
Mazzetti, Mark, and Carl Hulse. "Panetta Is Chosen as C.I.A. Chief, in a Surprise Step." New York Times, 6 Jan. 2009. [http://www.nytimes.com]
"Leon E. Panetta, a former congressman and White House chief of staff, has been selected by President-elect Barack Obama to head the Central Intelligence Agency.... [T]wo senior lawmakers [Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV)] questioned why Mr. Obama would nominate a candidate with limited experience in intelligence matters.... Democratic officials said Mr. Obama had selected Mr. Panetta for his managerial skills, his bipartisan standing, and the foreign policy and budget experience he gained under President Bill Clinton."
Abramowitz, Michael. "Panetta's Peers Back Him for CIA." Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2009, A6. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
"As questions continued to swirl on Capitol Hill about President-elect Barack Obama's selection of [Leon E.] Panetta to be his CIA director, several of his former White House colleagues rebutted criticism that he lacked the necessary experience and qualifications for the post. They said Panetta worked closely with President Bill Clinton and his most senior lieutenants on every national security issue that came through the White House between 1994 and 1997 while becoming a sophisticated consumer of intelligence during the daily briefings the CIA provided for Clinton and senior advisers."
Ignatius, David. "A Surprise for Langley." Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2009, A15. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
Complementing Leon Panetta's nomination to head the CIA "is the choice of Dennis Blair to succeed [Mike] McConnell as DNI.... Obama's advisers say [Blair] will bring a 'light touch' to his new job of coordinating the intelligence community. They insist he won't try to duplicate CIA management functions, as McConnell was sometimes accused of doing. Blair's mission, according to Obama's advisers, will be to streamline the 2004 intelligence reorganization that created the DNI structure to oversee the nation's 16 intelligence agencies.... Blair is likely to move quickly to reduce the number of personnel and contractors in the DNI bureaucracy, and to make other changes that signal he wants a leaner and more disciplined organization."
Peters, Ralph. "An Awful Pick." New York Post, 7 Jan. 2009. [http://www.nypost.com]
The author, "a career intelligence officer in the US Army," protests vehemently Leon Panetta's nomination to head the CIA.
Associated Press. "Panetta Confirmed." 13 Feb. 2009. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
On 12 February 2009, the U.S. Senate "confirmed Leon Panetta as director of the CIA.... During two days of confirmation hearings last week, Panetta told senators that the Obama administration would not prosecute CIA officers who participated in harsh interrogations, even if the tactics constituted torture, as long as they did not go beyond their instructions."
Benson, Pam. "Panetta Sworn in as Spy Chief." CNN, 13 Feb. 2009. [http://www.cnn.com]
"Leon Panetta was sworn in [on 13 February 2009] as the 19th director of the CIA."
Holland, Steve. "Obama Receiving Daily Economic Intel Document--CIA." Reuters, 25 Feb. 2009. [http://www.reuters.com]
In an interview with a group of reporters on 25 February 2009, CIA Director Leon Panetta said that "President Barack Obama wants to aggressively pursue Islamic militants, stressing there has been no let-up in the war despite change in the White House.... Panetta also said that as a result of the global recession, the intelligence community is now preparing a daily report on how the foreign policy of countries suffering economic instability might change."
Hess, Pamela. "CIA, Intel Director Locked in Spy Turf Battle." Associated Press, 27 May 2009. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
According to current and former government officials, DNI Dennis Blair and CIA Director Leon Panetta "are locked in a turf battle over overseas posts, forcing National Security Adviser James L. Jones to mediate." The dispute "centers on Blair's effort to choose his own representatives at U.S. embassies instead of relying only on CIA station chiefs."
Reacting to Hess's report, Marc Ambinder, "An Intelligence Turf War or Just Unfinished Business," The Atlantic, 28 May 2009 [http://www.theatlantic.com], cautions: "don't draw from [the term "turf battle"] the notion that Blair and Panetta are at daggers drawn. They've simply asked the White House to resolve a question that Congress dropped in their laps when it created the DNI structure and took away the CIA chief's power to direct the activities of the nation's other 15 intelligence agencies."
See also, Mark Mazzetti, "Turf Battles on Intelligence Pose Test for Spy Chiefs," New York Times, 9 Jun. 2009.
Panetta, Leon. "Congress and the CIA: Time to Move On." Washington Post, 2 Aug. 2009. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
"I've become increasingly concerned that the focus on the past, especially in Congress, threatens to distract the CIA from its crucial core missions: intelligence collection, analysis and covert action.... It is worth remembering that the CIA implements presidential decisions; we do not make them. Yet my agency continues to pay a price for enduring disputes over policies that no longer exist.... The time has come for both Democrats and Republicans to take a deep breath and recognize the reality of what happened after Sept. 11, 2001.... The country was frightened, and political leaders were trying to respond as best they could. Judgments were made. Some of them were wrong. But that should not taint those public servants who did their duty pursuant to the legal guidance provided."
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