[r9etb]

Consider that he may have been a CIA asset all his life?

Interesting thought.... is there anything to suggest that this might actually be the case?

[swarthyguy]

No, simply my conjecture.

Not only his appointment, but the manner in which he seemed to get accepted by the institution so matteroffactly and calmly, slightly odd for a man who was always a political animal with no overt connections to any aspect of espionage or intelligence.

Kinda like how Pappa Bush became head of the CIA, another man with ostensibly no intelligence experience before he headed America’s spy agency.

[Antoninus]

Interesting thought.... is there anything to suggest that this might actually be the case?

Panetta's a strange case. Recall that he was also on the board which investigated the sex abuse charges against the Catholic Church and which, in retrospect, did a good job identifying what the problem really was---homosexual sex abuse. I was shocked they they reached that conclusion and didn't weasel-word it too much.