Team Intelligence

As Obama makes the announcements official, some are questioning the Panetta-Blair team.  

Blair is being scrutinized for his part in U.S. involvement in East Timor a decade ago.  A paramilitary group with Indonesian and American backing slaughtered 200,000 East Timorese over a two decade period.  Blair sought to work with the Indonesian military, including training, in an attempt to gain leverage in the situation -- a move many are critical of. 

In 1999 Blair met with military leaders in Indonesia to resume talks about training aid.  Days before the discussions, Indonesian-trained militias slaughtered almost 60 people seeking refuge in a Church.  Blair said he did not find out about the slaughter until after the meeting.  

Blair also faces questioning regarding a conflict of interest investigation when in 2006, working for a Pentagon think tank, he sat on the membership board of two of the defense contractors whom the think tank was reviewing.  

He Keeps it Cool

Barack Obama's silky-smooth words fall upon my ears like early morning dew. I swear, this guy is good. As he works to assuage the concerns of legislators in Washington, he has very much calmed me on the Panetta pick.

Anyone seen the movie Slackers? Remember the "seed of doubt"? It's as if Obama can convince me of anything in that measured eloquence he's so deft with.

Panetta On My Mind

So Obama's Panetta-Blair team to head intelligence surprised many and alarmed quite a few. I am a little worried about the lack of intelligence experience myself, but some say Panetta's position as a former cabinet member with Bill Clinton will bring the CIA further into the fold of national security planning than we've seen with this past administration -- a good move if you ask me, but still a little unnerving. Proceed with trepidation.

Panetta to Head C.I.A.

The Obama transition team has selected Leon E. Panetta, former California Congressman, White House Budget Advisor and Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton, as the new head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Panetta has no experience with intelligence directly, but has a wealth of managerial and government experience. Perhaps the Obama team is looking for a reformer, whether that means structural change or just reputational. The agency has seen harsh international criticism in recent years for its conduct during the war on terror, to which Panetta is free from association.

The NY Times described Panetta as a man with a "reputation in Washington as a competent manager with strong background in budget issues." The choice, although unusual, is not unprecendented. Both John McCone and George H.W. Bush, two successful CIA heads, had no intelligence experience before taking the helm, the Times article points out.

Obama initially sought someone with extensive experience in the field of intelligence gathering but had difficulty looking for someone in the community not tied in some way, at least in popular opinion, to the Bush Administration.

The task now seems to be to build a strong team of high-level intelligence officials to aid the new man in charge.