Panetta’s qualifications

Re “Outsider is surprise CIA choice,” Jan. 6

Leon Panetta is absolutely a great choice to head up the CIA. The last thing we need right now is another career spy to become the agency’s director. Panetta will make certain it does the job it was created to do and will not allow the White House to cherry-pick the intelligence the way President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney did, or permit Congress to hamstring the CIA’s effectiveness. Panetta joins an impressive list of Cabinet nominations by Obama.

Ralph S. Brax

Lancaster

--

This is a great nomination.

With all the “professionals” having botched up what is euphemistically called “intelligence,” it’s past time for a competent civilian to bring the CIA in line with the Constitution, Bill of Rights and our treaties. And Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s apparent disapproval is a good sign that Obama has got it right.

John R. Shiban

Westlake Village

--

By nominating Panetta, Obama has confirmed fears that he, and Democrats in general, simply do not understand the gravity involved in the war on terrorism and national security.

Coming on the heels of the spillover from the Blagojevich scandal, the botched Richardson nomination and the stalled economic stimulus package, the president-elect seems to be raising the question: “Is Barack Obama really ready for prime time?”

What, for example, would happen if, God forbid, another terrorist attack should happen on American soil while Panetta is CIA director? What possible defense would Obama have for placing an individual with no professional intelligence experience in such a vital position?

John W. Lillpop

San Jose

--

When discussing Panetta’s curriculum vitae, why did The Times’ main article ignore his job as chief of operations of the intelligence section at Ft. Ord, when he served as a captain of Army Intelligence?

Was it simply because it conflicts with the phony “Panetta has no intelligence experience” narrative that his opponents are promoting?

Tom Betz

Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.