Panetta for ... CIA Chief?? He Seems Like a Commerce Guy

I think I will join the conventional wisdom and say, "Leon Panetta? For CIA Chief? Really??" It's a head scratcher. For one thing, Panetta is 70 (70!) years old. Then there's the obvious problem that he has no first hand experience with intelligence or foreign affairs. Michael Ledeen and Jonah Goldberg have said some strikingly nice things about him, while Diane Fienstein has expressed polite dismay. 

Mostly, I think this speaks to the CIA's increased marginality. The Left has always been suspicious of the CIA. The Right now hates it for its toxic combination of treasonous duplicity and awful spycraft. Panetta has obvious management skills. He also has an honest gravamen that will go over well. No doubt, part of his list of tasks will be keeping the CIA out of the newspapers. 

Since 9/11, CIA is no longer the head of the intelligence world. The Pentagon, NSA, and DOI are where the useful information seems to be generated. Still, while there are other, more effective spies in the bureaucracy, the CIA chief is still the glamour position, even as it is no longer the true director of intelligence. It probably won't be bad for Panetta to provide the public face of US spying, even as the real work is taking place in other places.