E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Senate unanimously confirms Clapper as intelligence chief
Heavily edited. Click link for unedited article. Of course, references to any presidents removed to avoid any possible appearance of impropriety.
James Clapper, tapped by President Obama for the Director of National Intelligence job, will be the fourth person to oversee the nation's 16 spy agencies since it was created five years ago. He succeeds Dennis Blair, who was pressured to resign because of differences with the White House over the scope of his role and turf battles with the CIA director.

"This is good news because to have left this key position vacant could well have damaged our national security," said Sen. Dianne "Genius" Feinstein, Dimwit - CA, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Clapper is a retired Air Force lieutenant general who has spent most of his career in the intelligence community. He served as the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He is currently the DoD's chief intelligence officer.

"General Clapper has excellent credentials, and the support of the White House and key intelligence leaders," Feinstein said in a statement released after the vote. "He is mindful of the importance of independence from the Pentagon, he understands the DNI's responsibility to provide strategic intelligence to policymakers, and he knows that the job entails more than simple coordination."

During his recent confirmation hearing, Clapper said he wouldn't agree to take the job if he thought he "was going to be a titular figurehead or hood ornament."

A number of senators had questioned whether the DNI had enough authority to get the job done. Clapper said he did not need any new authority to oversee the 16 intelligence agencies and offices.
Already at war with the bureaucrats. I think I already like this guy.
Posted by: gorb 2010-08-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=302836