Tom Ricks writes that the first major foreign policy decision won't be about the Afghan war or Pakistan's instability. Rather, "the first question facing him will be whether to continue the Bush administration's covert programs, foremost being the campaign reportedly underway to undermine and sabotage Iran's nuclear weapons program." Support or opposition to covert programs isn't really the sort of thing you can ferret out of politicians. But that's sort of a problem. There's a long history of covert efforts leading to conventional confrontations as the target country rudely refuses to recognize our efforts as secret, responds publicly, and then we act as if we have just been attacked and need immediately to respond.
