In today’s New York Times, CIA veteran Mark Lowenthal sums up what’s wrong with Obama’s decision to let John Brennan withdraw. According to Lowenthal,
Mr. Obama’s decision to exclude Mr. Brennan from contention for the top job had sent a message that ‘if you worked in the C.I.A. during the war on terror, you are now tainted,’ and had created anxiety in the ranks of the agency’s clandestine service.
Apparently there are other serious candidates, but I doubt they can withstand the vetting-by-Google of the liberal blogentsia any better than Brennan.
Here’s a headstart for you, guys: Stephen Kappes “oversaw the CIA’s Directorate for Operations during the controversial Iraq WMD reporting”, says Wikipedia; Tim Roemer was “charmed” by Bush when serving with the 9/11 Commission, according to The Commission by Philip Shenon; Chuck Hagel was partly responsible for killing the Kyoto Protocol; and Jack Devine, well, I’m sure any old search engine can bring up a truckload of muck on him, too.
