I have to agree with Feinstein on this one. We need someone who can hit the ground running and knows all that there is to know about the CIA and intelligence operations. Placing someone in there who has no clue at this time when so much is going on in the world is ridiculous.

Cindy...Ga.

I thought that the Clinton Administration (and Mr. Panetta was part of that) had a significant role in weakening the CIA ... which had a direct impact on America's less than efficient methods of gathering accurate intelligence around the world ... which includes information on Iraq's WMD capabilities.

Why then would Obama want to put Mr. Panetta in charge of the CIA? Has Mr. Panetta changed his views about the CIA? If he was and is a true supporter of the CIA was he just not effective in making his position clear to the Clinton Administration? or is Mr. Obama willing and hopeful of weakening the CIA yet again?

What was the reaction from Panetta? Will there be a price to pay by the transition team?

I think President Obama has made a great selection as a "rookie". I think the Republicans, including journalists who support Republicans have a lot to hiccup about, and so does Dianne Finstien. Old fashioned ice-cream is definitely better than the hot slushy ice-cream of the present times.

Rekha

Senator Feinstein is correct. How can Panetta be selected when he has absolutely no experience?

When Bush-the-first was DCI, his most relevant previous experience was envoy to China. He was, by all accounts, a pretty effective DCI.

Until Bob Gates was selected by Bush-I, the DCI always came from outside the agency. Since then, the previously independent analysis provided by the agency has become a rubberstamp for what the administration in power wants to hear. Intel-insiders are not a guarantee of good intelligence – if history is anything to go on, they're a recipe for politicized and biased reporting.

Bring on the outsider.

I respect Leon Panetta. That doesn't mean I think he'll be good for the job, I just don't know. Probably nobody really knows. But, there are pros and cons to everything. A couple of the cons are, his apparent lack of intelligence experience and maybe the lack of respect he'll get, if appointed, from inside the CIA because he is an outsider. A big pro is, that he is an outsider and can maybe bring fresh ideas and not continue to go along with the status quo.

I'd say move forward with the confirmation process and see how he responds to the questioning.

He picked a person of integrity that appears to have all the experience as a user of such info from the CIA. The 20+ years of Bush and the CIA need to be closed. It may be time to let the FBI run things instead of the CIA. The missing Billions of dollars in Iraq, Florida and Louisiana Disasters, and Afghanistan, as well as the trillions in our financial institutions needs to be looked at very seriously. The allegations of drug dealing since the 80's also needs to be scrutinized!