Good–you are one of TWO commentators to get it right. Here’s the other half of common sense: CIA, like the rest of the IC, does not give the taxpayer a good return on investment. They get promotes on inputs, not outputs. Panetta can cut the budget in half and increase actionable decision support not just to the President but to everyone by a factor of ten.

There are plenty of people who can “out” the CIA moose manure–it takes a wizard to find them, listen to them, act on their advice, and protect the President from an agency that thrives on lying to both the President and to Congress.

I know CIA *very* well. They desperately need an adult leader in touch with the real world and able to do the math.

An Op-Ed and a white paper on fixing the white house and national intelligence are at http://www.oss.net/HILL.

WOW Bill Clinton Dejavu all over again!

Clinton was the begiging of the fascination on Electronic Intelligence, rather than human intelligence, which began a down fall of the country’s intelligence gathering capabilities. Kinda hard to find a guy in a cave when he satellites can’t see through rock! You need people in those areas and creating that kind assets takes years, which finally Bush’s administration is beginning to do post 9-11.

Jed Clampett

The drive away from boots on the ground intelligence as opposed to electronic intelligence is not driven by any politician or individual for that matter. It is driven by industry and pushed upon the public via the senate and house, both of which were controlled by corporate elites represented by republicans at the time. In a world of greed and corruption, no political party or ideology withstands the onslaught of large amounts of wealth steered with a particular purpose (that’s why all the major players hedge their bets by contributing to both parties), in this case, a monopoly on intelligence. Human intelligence is easy to control and keep secured and away from eyes that shouldn’t see it, electronic intelligence on the other hand is easy to intercept, particularly by the COMPANIES that gather the information and S.ELL it to the government(they can use the intel to get an edge in business dealings). More money paid to satellite companies for their data gathering abilities means less money to pay for human assets. Therefore, you have to reduce staff.
It is not a particular political party or ideology that is corrupt, it is the capitalist system that was allowed to go haywire without any accountability. Why else would they be allowed to partake in the virtual slavery of people being paid measly wages when they would not be allowed to pay less than a somewhat livable wage here? They are avoiding the laws we created to protect the public from the corporations that would exploit them. Think Henry Ford and the full tilt production lines that would destroy a workers health in a few years without as much as a viable healthcare system or a decent wage, forget schooling for children or healthcare.
Ever heard of the Robber Barons? What do you think happened to them? Where they put to prison or perhaps became wealthier in order to control not only more of the country but the world? Why would they be doing this even though they must realize the harm it is causing to the workers, the economy and the environment?
The answer is in ‘the face of fear’, a documentary playing on LinkTV about the treatment of Tibetans in Chinese jails and how they torture, rape and try to destroy the will and spirit of 13 year old nuns that had the audacity to yell ‘free tibet’ and ‘long live the Dalai Lama’ in protest at their oppression(Palestinians have progressed from protests, to suicide bombers to indiscriminate rocketry). The enemy of man wants to create anguish, fear and hate; the Chinese are quite intent on helping them and doing a great job at it.

BTW- If you think UBL is or has ever been hiding in a cave in fear for his life in Tora Bora for more than a few hours, even before the invasion, you are insane. He was already in a Pakistani villa proudly watching his attempts at precipitating Armageddon developing on television while drinking a glass of chai tea. Bushney hasn’t done more than Torture people into telling him what he wants to hear out of desperation he might be slowed down in his theft of Iraqi resources.

Peace

DC,

And just what evidence might you proffer to support your contention that Georgie Porgie has down ANYTHING, Post-9/11, save for bombing brown-skinned peoples?

Panetta is getting static for having “no intellegence experience”. Perhaps this is not such a bad thing for a DCI. The DNI (Dir of National Intellegence), is the real head of intel and is confirmed to be one Admiral Dennis Blair, who has lots of experience. Unfortunately he also has lots of blood on his hands.
See
democracynow.org/2009/1 /6/dennis_blair_obamas_nominee _for_director
for further details.

DD and D&C,
According to Tim Weiner, author of “Legacy of Ashes” (an even-handed look at the history of the CIA), the Bush administration has done irreparable damage to the acquisition of foreign assets. How? Our policies of torture have made it almost impossible to contract Arabic operatives and have led to a general perception among the population of the middle east that we are ‘anti-Islam’. In fact, dear D&C, if we wanted a functional intelligence capability in the Muslim world, we have taken precisely the WRONG path.

Geez, Tim. What are you going to talk about for the next 8 years if you’re going to agree with everything Obama does? Really, intelligence experience doesn’t matter at all in LEADING THE CIA? Panetta is qualified for a lot of posts within this administration, but certainly not heading up the CIA. Note to the angry mobs on this site: experience does not equal a “Bushie”. Wow…