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| Home Front: Politix |
| Trial Balloons - Panetta as SecDef, Petraeus as DCIA |
| 2011-04-05 |
| This summer Leon Panetta, the CIA Director, is widely tipped to take over from Bob Gates as Pentagon chief. General David Petraeus, who is said to be exhausted and eager to leave Afghanistan, is being tipped by NPR as a serious contender for Panetta’s job. According to Tom Ricks, Lieutenant General John Allen of the US Marine Corps will take over from Petraeus as ISAF commander in Kabul. It wouldn’t be unusual for a military officer to take over at Langley but Petraeus – known to some as King David – has no specialist intelligence background. The possible move shows that the Obama administration is having a hard time finding a slot for the general, once considered a potential 2012 nominee for Republicans. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #8 What was that someone said about the closed Petraeus and Obama meeting a couple of weeks ago? |
| Posted by: Grusose Black2144 2011-04-05 22:32 |
| #7 CIA needs an overhaul, and the bureaucrats, fiefdom builders and silo making ass-covering risk averse paper-stackers, blanket-folders and power point rangers need to be sent packing - and the politically connected Ivy League types types need to be defenestrated. Unless he plans to loudly and publicly impale* some of the politically connected desk pilots pour encourager les autres, crack some heads (and break a few spines as well - especially leakers), Gen Petraeus should avoid becoming DCI. Hercules and the Augean Stables were nothing compared to this. Save reforming the CIA for when he gets elected President. ;-) *I am speaking Symbolically... I think. This was posted to a different thread. Should have been here. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-04-05 21:02 |
| #6 Politics pure and simple. |
| Posted by: bman 2011-04-05 12:27 |
| #5 A bit more on Petraeus and his understanding of the intelligence process as it applies to the current conflict: Here |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2011-04-05 11:56 |
| #4 Panetta went to CIA because the Agency had gone rogue under Dubya, in the sense that it was actively working against his policies. Panetta - a hardcore, old-time-style Democratic pol who'd worked as Bill Clinton's chief of staff, was the perfect man to make sure that the Agency didn't get out of line for The One. I have a sneaking suspicion his job at Defense will be to insure nobody - nobody - even thinks about speaking out on the cuts that are coming. Petraeus is a smart, dedicated officer who will take the job at CIA and run with it...and as P2K says, if Petraeus is busy trying to accomplish the mission and save American lives, he's not going to be thinking about running against The One. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2011-04-05 11:29 |
| #3 If you're going to ramp down the uniform side of the war, unless you're going to throw in the towel, that means you're doing a ramp up on the covert and special ops side. Who'd you want to run that deal? Putting a 'customer' in charge of the place who knows what the guy on the other end needs as far as intel is concerned could help in bring some focus and discipline in to the process. It'll also short stop the infighting between CIA and DIA at the upper level. However, the real consideration is that the general would make a formidable opponent for November 2012. Best to find a place to park him so as not to get any ideas. Keep him busy, keep him happy. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-04-05 11:16 |
| #2 It wouldn't be unusual for a military officer to take over at Langley but Petraeus -- known to some as King David -- has no specialist intelligence background. Petreaus is a very, very strong advocate and supporter of both strategic and tactical intelligence. He probably has a greater appreciation for what the intelligence community brings to the warfight than any general officer in recent history. Having said that, I seriously doubt he would accept the job. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2011-04-05 11:10 |
| #1 The possible move shows that the Obama administration is having a hard time finding a slot for the general, once considered a potential 2012 nominee for Republicans. Community organizer politics? Do we know what Petraeus' politics are? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-04-05 10:57 |