Posted on 01/12/2009 6:04:19 AM PST by LightedCandle
(Chuck DeVore is an Assemblyman from California running for the US Senate against Barbara Boxer in 2010)
On Monday, January 5, President-elect Obama selected former Cong. Leon Panetta to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Panetta’s chief qualification is his utter lack of intelligence experience – meaning that he has not been involved with any of the intelligence activities in the past 7 years that have kept America safe. This makes him an acceptable candidate to the anti-war left.
Obama’s first choice to head the 20,000 person, $10 billion spy agency was John Brennan, a former top CIA officer with 25 years of experience, including time as a station chief in Saudi Arabia. Brennan was a leader of Obama’s intelligence transition team. Obama pulled the plug on Brennan after an uproar from leftwing bloggers that he took his serious job too seriously.
The current Director of the CIA, retired USAF General Michael Hayden, was head of the code-breaking National Security Agency (NSA) for six years before being named the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence for a year. This level of experience is the norm for leading the America’s top spy agency.
With complete understanding of her Constitutional role to provide “Advice and Consent” in approving a president’s cabinet picks, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the incoming chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, expressed strong reservations about Cong. Panetta. Sen. Feinstein said, “I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA director… My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.” The outgoing chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Rockefeller, expressed similar reservations.
Then the phone calls from President-elect Obama came in and Sen. Feinstein reversed her stand – but the bell cannot be un-rung, her initial statements ring true: Panetta is dangerously inexperienced to lead the CIA during these times. With America still engaged in fighting a dangerous foe, one that killed 3,000 people that dark September day in 2001, we need an experienced and steady hand at the CIA.
In contradistinction to Sen. Feinstein’s sobriety regarding a vital national security position, California’s junior U.S. Senator, Barbara Boxer, enthused over the choice of Panetta, saying Obama has, “…picked the right person.”
What Sen. Boxer failed to note was that this Leon Panetta is the same man, who, as President Clinton’s chief-of-staff, recommended John Deutch to be Director of the CIA. Deutch, was Deputy Secretary of Defense when Clinton named him CIA chief in 1995. Deutch, another Democrat pick with no intelligence experience, lasted 18 months before leaving the CIA under a cloud. Deutch’s security breaches were so severe that Bill Clinton pardoned him of wrong doing on his last day in the White House. No wonder Deutch enthusiastically supports Panetta for a post that neither of them is qualified for.
If Sen. Barbara Boxer votes to confirm Cong. Panetta to be the new CIA Director, and he wins confirmation as expected, a large portion of America’s safety will be the responsibility of a man possessing no intelligence and foreign policy experience.
For more information see: http://chuckdevore.com/
Whatever happens, it’s all on them.
New House Intelligence Committee Chair Short on Intelligence
SSDD.
If we stay safe it'll be inspite of the 'Rats, not thanks to them.
Wonder if any of the RINOS will bring up his communist connections?
What a slap in the face for the cia. A “non Intel” guy running the show.
I’m afraid that won’t fly this time around. They insist on talking up Panetta and giving him the spot, knowing that he is not qualified. They have all openly come out against President Bush’s policies that have kept us safe. They will not have Bush to kick around any longer. If we get hit again, it will be attributed to Obama and his Clinton team.
Its become very obvious that Obama is just Clintons front man.
They knew Hilary might lose so they invented the magic negro.
I think you overestimate the intelligence of the American public and underestimate the duplicity of the news media. A majority of Americans cannot the dots between our national security policy of the last seven years and the fact that we have not been hit again since 9/11. During that time, the mainstream news media have worked tirelessly to deny the linkage and undermine US policy. They will most assuredly close ranks around their Dear Leader should anything go wrong, blaming whatever happens on “eight years of failure”, blah blah, blah. Count on it.
It's quite striking how, in an age of instantaneous multimedia mass communication, citizens are more poorly-informed than ever. In part, it is a quality vs. quantity issue, but it's also the result of a deliberate strategy on the part of our liberal-dominated institutions: the news media, the educational establishment, the federal bureaucracy, and the arts.
If liberals had any brains they would’nt be liberals..
On the whole, people were better educated about the rights and duties of citizenship back when we had one-room schoolhouses and quill pens. It is not the fault of technology or of the financial abundance that advanced it; the failure is one of philosophy and culture, both of which have been slowly rotting since the 1950s.
Whatever happens, it’s all on them.....
This collection of asshats is an American disaster in the making....
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