"Obama's intel picks short on direct experience" from AP reports that in choosing former Clintonista Leon Panetta to head the CIA and retired Admiral Dennis Blair to be the Director of National Intelligence - both men with no experience in the intelligence area due to Obama wanting to avoid anyone connected with the Bush administration policies - and due to pressure from the base in this area.
The question is if this will leave the nation less prepared in the critical area of intelligence with two wars, terrorism and active spying from both Russia and China on the US.
Senate grumbles about Panetta pick from Politico
But despite an internal list of former and current CIA officials who had impressive administrative credentials, all either worked in intelligence during the Bush administration's development of controversial policies on interrogation and torture or earlier, during the months leading up to the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
A former senior CIA official who advises Obama defended the surprise choice of Panetta, who has not direct intelligence experience beyond a two-year stint in the mid-1960s as a U.S. Army lieutenant. The official said Panetta had been a consumer of CIA intelligence when he was at the White House.
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