Obama Picks Military Man, Blair, as Top Spymaster

Obama Picks Military Man, Blair, as Top Spymaster

newsfeedresearcher.com

If confirmed as Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Blair would face ticking international time bombs inherited from the administration of President George W. Bush, including two wars, secret CIA prisons overseas and domestic wiretapping. The top intelligence adviser to the president and the National Security Council, he would be tasked with managing intelligence activities and overseeing 16 often fractious agencies. Obama's team has faced hurdles in finalizing his intelligence picks, and the choice of Blair -- a career military man -- might fuel tensions between civilian and military intelligence officials, The Wall Street Journal reported. "It's controversial from those within the intelligence community," a former top intelligence official told the Journal regarding the Blair pick. Blair, who has a 34-year Navy career, is not known to be personally close to Obama, although he occasionally advised him in the Senate. He has ties with the Clintons and was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University at the same times as former president Bill Clinton. [1] A former commander of the military's forces in the Pacific who served 34 years in the Navy, Mr. Blair did one tour as the CIA's military liaison in the mid-1990s. That experience will provide important perspective in overseeing the CIA and other intelligence agencies, say those who have worked with Mr. Blair.

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This compliments the CIA Director appointment and allows us to have a look at the direction of the new Intel apparatus.

Panetta is appointed to head up CIA while Blair heads up Intel overall.

Obama must have observed during his meetings with the CIA and the FBI after his election wins the need to bring the military into overall control of a conglomerate of civilian spy services.

The indication concerning the direction the USA Intel can be seen in this as well as NASA coming into the military dominance with yesterday’s announcement.

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President-elect Barrack Obama has chosen retired Adm. Dennis Blair, a former head of Pacific Command, to be his director of national intelligence, according to reports Friday. A surface warfare officer, Blair retired in 2002 after a 34-year career capped off by his post as the commander of all the military forces in the Asia-Pacific region, the largest of the operational areas into which the Pentagon slices the globe.[
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Reading this I wonder if we are using his intense knowledge of China as well as the Pacific Theatre to switch the focus from a European structure to the Pacific Rim structure?

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Officials: Panetta to be tapped for CIA director
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Panetta is a CIA outsider.

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Panetta has a strong background in economics but little hands-on experience in intelligence. However, he is known as a strong manager with solid organizational skills.

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Is this the first hint that this economic meltdown has roots other then American mismanagement? We now have Blair, who has a Pacific Theatre background and the new CIA Director who has an economic background.

Whoever the enemy is I remember reading that they want to cripple us where it hurts, namely our economy.

I wonder how many international bankers have a little treason hidden in the closet?

The interesting note is that the new CIA director is a Clinton inside man. Does Mrs. Clinton have a good relationship with Pannetta as well as Blair?

Overall I see these as strong picks although what can one man do to change the nature of intent which has a long established history of pushback when thwarted.




newsfeedresearcher.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

also for new CIA pick www.cnn.com...

[edit on 5-1-2009 by whiteraven]