It's Now Official: President Obama Has Nominated Chuck Hagel For Secretary Of Defense And John Brennan As CIA Director

Obama Picks Hagel For Defense, Brennan For CIA -- Reuters

President Barack Obama on Monday nominated former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to head the CIA, potentially setting up a Senate confirmation battle on two fronts and establishing a tough tone to start his second term.

Mindful of the concerns about both Hagel and Brennan on Capitol Hill, Obama spoke at length about each in a White House ceremony, then turned over the microphone to outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and acting CIA Director Mike Morell to provide testimonials about their chosen replacements.

Obama urged the Senate to move quickly in confirming Hagel, a military veteran who served in Vietnam, and Brennan, who spent 25 years at the CIA.

Read more ....

My Comment: My prediction is that both Chuck Hagel and John Brennan will be confirmed .... President Obama has made it very clear that he wants both men on his National Security team .... the question that remains is how many Senators will support this nomination .

I will be giving my own analysis on what these appointments will mean to the Pentagon and the CIA later tonight.

President Obama Has Selected CIA Director

Reports: Obama Has Selected CIA Director -- USA Today

Two likely candidates rise to the forefront of potential nominees.

If media reports are true, President Barack Obama planned to announce nominations for his entire national security team Friday, including the new CIA director.

The president opted only to tap John Kerry for secretary of State, omitting his picks for other positions due to controversy surrounding Chuck Hagel as a potential secretary of Defense, reports NBC.

The White House remains mum on Obama's pick to replace ousted director David Petraeus, but experts familiar with the process believe it's down to two names.

Michael Morell, the acting CIA director and #2 under Petraeus, and Michael G. Vickers, the undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, could become the nation's next spy chief, according to multiple experts who spoke with U.S. News.

Read more ....

My Comment: President Obama did not announce his national security team on Friday .... I guess he will in the next week or two. As for who will be the nominee for CIA Director .... my money is on acting CIA Director Michael Morell. He is already there, and he has been doing the job of CIA Director since the Petraeus resignation.

The Case For A Woman To Head The CIA

10 Reasons A Woman Should Head The CIA -- Tara Maller, Special to CNN

(CNN) -- One of the most high-profile appointments President Obama will make in his second term is the director of the CIA. Here's a tip for the president: The time is ripe for the first woman to head the agency.

Choosing a woman isn't just about narrowing the intelligence community gender gap. It's also about drawing from the whole pool of talent to ensure the best national security apparatus and responding to Americans' apparent desire for more women in government. Here are the Top 10 reasons President Obama should name a woman as the next CIA director.

Read more ....

My Comment: That will happen one day .... but not today.

Nominees For The Next Director Of The CIA

For A CIA Director With Star Power, The Nominees Are -- L.A. Times

David H. Petraeus may have been a genius as a general, but as a CIA director with an eye for the ladies (or, at least, an eye for his lady biographer) -- well, suffice to say he was no Allen Dulles. So who will take Petraeus' place? Potential candidates reportedly include such inside-the-Beltway types as Jane Harman and Dick Lugar. But why so pedestrian, President Obama? Why not go outside the box -- all the way to Hollywood? You've treated it as a campaign ATM; how about a little payback? Here are eight stars with the chops to be the nation's next spymaster. --Paul Whitefield

Read more ....

My Comment: My choice for CIA Director would be this character.

CIA Director Petraeus Is Note The First CIA Director To Have An Affair

Photo: Allen Dulles. 5th Director of Central Intelligence. Wikipedia

When a C.I.A. Director Had Scores of Affairs -- Stephen Kinzer, New York Times

WALKING through the lobby of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Va., after handing in his resignation on Friday, David H. Petraeus passed a bas-relief sculpture of Allen Dulles, who led the agency in the 1950s and early ’60s. Below it is the motto, “His Monument Is Around Us.”

Both men ran the C.I.A. during some of its most active years, Dulles during the early cold war and Mr. Petraeus during the era of drone strikes and counterinsurgency operations. And both, it turns out, had high-profile extramarital affairs.

But private life for a C.I.A. director today is apparently quite different from what it was in the Dulles era. Mr. Petraeus resigned after admitting to a single affair; Allen Dulles had, as his sister, Eleanor, wrote later, “at least a hundred.”

Read more ....

My Comment: The days of Allen Dulles are certainly over.

Who Will Be The Next CIA Director

Possible Post-David Petraeus CIA Picks -- Politico

Whoever succeeds David Petraeus as CIA director will find themselves atop an agency facing the wrath of a Capitol Hill angry about the Benghazi attacks.

President Barack Obama could repeat the path he took when appointing Leon Panetta, who had no CIA experience but was steeped in relationships on Capitol Hill.

Possible candidates to become CIA director in Obama’s second term include:

Read more ....

Update: Acting CIA chief has been through this before -- CNN

My Comment: My prediction on who will be the next CIA Director .... it will be one of the three persons mentioned in this report.

CIA Director Panetta Was Also Away On Vacation When The Bomb Attempt Occurred

CIA Director Panetta With President Obama

CIA, Counterterrorism Execs Managed Bomb Crisis from Afar -- CBS News

It could be said that the U.S. government can run by remote control. On the day that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up a Northwest airline flight headed for Detroit, several key government players were on holiday and didn't immediately return to their posts in Washington, D.C.

President Obama was on vacation in Hawaii, golfing and enjoying time with his family. He returned to the White House on Jan. 4.

Read more ....

My Comment: The intel that terrorists around the world have learned in the past two weeks is the following .... the best time to strike the United States is when everyone is on vacation .... specifically around Christmas.

Are The CIA - DNI Wars Finished?

The Real Intelligence Wars: Oversight And Access -- The Atlantic

For months, the CIA director, Leon Panetta, and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Adm. Dennis Blair (ret.), fought an intense and acrimonious turf battle over covert action oversight and access to White House officials. Last week, the two men agreed to a truce when they signed a classified memorandum brokered by the National Security Adviser, James Jones.

Through intermediaries, Panetta and Blair crossed swords over who should appoint senior intelligence representatives in foreign countries. Now, through interviews, new details are emerging about other, more sensitive conflicts between the two men and their agencies, including which agency is responsible for oversight of the CIA's controversial and classified Predator drone program.

Read more ....

My Comment: After 9/11 the nation's Intelligence Agencies were unified and dedicated in the destruction of Al Qaeda, the successful invasion of Afghanistan, and the bringing to justice those terrorists who brought upon us this disaster. In short .... the priority was the protection of the United States, and to bring to justice those who conceptualized and delivered this catastrophe.

Today .... the men and women of our intelligence agencies are now threatened with legal sanctions for conduct that is now frowned upon and disallowed by our political leaders. The war in Afghanistan now favors the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies. Iraq is still precarious .... with no guarantee that violence will return. Uncertainty about Iran's nuclear program continues, with little if any credible intelligence to assist us in knowing what are their intentions and goals. North Korea is still a mystery. China has initiated massive espionage operations against us. And Bin Laden is still on the loose.

And what do the heads of the CIA and DNI do .... fight amongst themselves for power and influence and to make sure that they have face time with President Obama.