Panetta for CIA Chief is an Excellent Choice

A Washington Times commentary applauds Obama's selection of Leon Panetta to head the CIA: "In selecting Leon Panetta as head of the CIA, Mr. Obama has chosen a trusted person whose loyalty is assured, a person he will support when the going gets tough. George W. Bush erred in not immediately replacing CIA chief George Tenet, a holdover from the Clinton administration.The CIA is meant to be America's early warning system, providing the intelligence that is used to prevent attack. But the CIA has become a bureaucratic creature, loyal only to itself, and its ability to produce human source intelligence is dismal. Reliance upon it is our major national security weakness." The author of the commentary is "Ishmael Jones,.. a former Central Intelligence Agency case officer who focused on human sources with access to intelligence on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. His assignments included more than 15 years of continuous overseas service. He is the author of, "The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture," the first book written by a deep-cover CIA case officer." Mr Jones believes that: "Americans may disagree on the reasons for our lack of preparedness prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and our response to those attacks in the subsequent Afghan and Iraq wars, but we should agree that much of the intelligence provided to President Bush by the CIA was false or nonexistent." Mr. Jones is correct in asserting that: "The current head, Michael Hayden, should be removed as soon as possible. He'll go off to enrich himself by joining the boards of the CIA contracting companies he has helped make wealthy. Mr. Hayden has presided over the extraordinary growth of the CIA within the United States and its corresponding lack of hard intelligence-gathering ability overseas." The question remains unanswered if Mr. Bush acquiesced in Hayden's activities. Jones speaks of the need for "Fierce loyalty to Mr. Obama (that) must be the first requirement of the new CIA chief. He should not only prevent the CIA from undermining Mr. Obama but push the CIA to change, to perform, to provide the intelligence that will help avoid another Bay of Pigs, Iranian hostage crisis, Iraq weapons of mass destruction controversy or any of the modern foreign policy crises in which the CIA's incompetence has undercut presidents." Mr. Jones believes that: "CIA bureaucrats must be made to understand that their new boss holds the full support of the president of the United States. Only two CIA chiefs in recent decades have sought to bring change to the CIA: John Deutch,a Democratic appointee, and Porter Goss, a Republican, and both were quickly expelled from their positions by CIA bureaucrats. Mr. Obama must back his choice squarely in the face of certain and ferocious CIA rebellion to any change." Mr. Jones warns Mr. Obama that: "A president's duty is to protect Americans. If Mr. Obama, the candidate of change, proves to have exposed Americans to attack by not introducing change to the American institution most in need of it, he will no longer be our president in four years, and history will remember him as an excellent orator but a failed leader." Many of the points made by Mr. Jones provide a compelling assessment of the complex relationship between the White House and the CIA. However, regarding Mr. Jones attempts to portray Mr Bush as a victim of CIA incompetence has proven to only be partially right because Mr. Jones fails to mention the extent that Vice President Cheney played in shaping CIA intelligence and consequently priming U.S. public opinion for war with Iraq.