Somewhat surprisingly, Obama has named Leon Panetta, Bill Clinton's former chief of staff, as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta has no particular background in intelligence, but deep experience in the executive branch. Moira Whelan argues that this will be a crucial asset to the CIA. "[Panetta] knows how brains work inside the West Wing because he was there as White House Chief of Staff, and therefore will know how to provide information that gets attention in the way it should...this will give the IC a big advantage in terms of getting their point of view across in the Oval." Panetta is also an uncompromising opponent of torture. Last August he took to the Washington Monthly to write:
According to the latest polls, two-thirds of the American public believes that torturing suspected terrorists to gain important information is justified in some circumstances. How did we transform from champions of human dignity and individual rights into a nation of armchair torturers? One word: fear.Fear is blinding, hateful, and vengeful. It makes the end justify the means. And why not? If torture can stop the next terrorist attack, the next suicide bomber, then what's wrong with a little waterboarding or electric shock?The simple answer is the rule of law...We cannot simply suspend these beliefs in the name of national security. Those who support torture may believe that we can abuse captives in certain select circumstances and still be true to our values. But that is a false compromise. We either believe in the dignity of the individual, the rule of law, and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, or we don't. There is no middle ground.We cannot and we must not use torture under any circumstances. We are better than that.
It's hard to say what Panetta will do as head of the CIA. But we can say what he won't do. And maybe, for now, that's improvement enough.
