Leon Panetta Tapped for C.I.A.

Another point for experience over change. Leon Panetta, former congressman and Clinton White House chief of staff, has been tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Democratic officials told the New York Times. With "little hands-on intelligence experience," the Times reports, Panetta "will take control of the agency most directly responsible for hunting senior Al Qaeda leaders around the globe" if he wins confirmation in the Senate. Aides to Obama indicated Panetta was Obama's second choice, after the more-experience John Brennan withdrew his name from consideration.