Reports that Dianne Feinstein, the incoming chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Jay Rockefeller, the outgoing chair, weren't consulted on Obama's choice of Panetta are weird indeed. The plausible explanation comes from Ambinder: It leaked. According to him, the Obama team meant to to announce Panetta later in the week, after notifying DiFi and Rockefeller. The irony is that Panetta didn't want the CIA job, at least not originally. He wanted to go to Commerce, which made much more sense for a former director of the Office of Management and Budget. But Commerce went to Richardson. It's easy to imagine a world in which Panetta's appointment hadn't leaked, DiFi had expressed quiet opposition, and Richardson's withdrawal had cleared the way for Panetta at Commerce. As it is, it would be hard for the Obama administration to back down on Panetta now. The key question now is who they choose as his deputy. That figure will have to be a career spy with a lot of respect from the rank-and-file and a serious shot at moving to the top job in a few years. Otherwise, you're looking at Senate opposition and, much worse, a demoralized CIA that lacks confidence in its director. Also, it's doesn't look good that the worst leak of the Obama administration came in its spymaster.
