Word: cia
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Leon Panetta Bill Clinton's former top aide is reportedly the pick for CIA chief, a role some say should be reserved for agency veterans...
...Leading Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee Jay Rockefeller and Dianne Feinstein have already criticized the choice of Panetta, claiming the CIA needs to be led by an experienced intelligence professional. But right now, political clout and the ability to be a strong advocate for the CIA far outweigh the virtues of being a professional spy and knowing the difference between a "live drop" and a "dead drop." A professional from the ranks would be eaten up by Hillary Clinton at State or Bob Gates at Defense. Or he or she would end up like Bill Clinton's CIA director...
...noticed that Tim Weiner's book Legacy of Ashes has become a report card for the CIA, a final and damning indictment. But what the lay reader might miss is that, while Legacy of Ashes catalogs the failed covert operations and finished intelligence manipulated by the White House - in other words, the politicization of the CIA - it fails to acknowledge the agency's successes. There's more than enough truth in Weiner's book, but what it misses is the point that when the CIA is left to the basics, it does just fine, thank...
...spite of the past eight years, the CIA is an institution we don't want to, and shouldn't, give up on. The rank and file in the CIA understand that they need an advocate in the White House, just as the agency needs someone who is able to tell the President no. The only question now is whether Panetta will have the portfolio to do what is absolutely necessary: move the CIA out of Washington and away from politicians, get the CIA out of covert action once and for all, and pay CIA employees what they deserve...
...Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East, is TIME.com's intelligence columnist and the author of See No Evil and, most recently, Blow the House Down