By CHRIS STROHM, CongressDaily
(Credit: Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty Images)
Faced with pointed, politically charged questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee, President Obama's nominee to lead the nation's intelligence apparatus today said he backs standards for interrogating terrorism suspects but would not say whether he believes the practice of waterboarding is torture.
Retired Navy Adm. Dennis Blair, nominated to be director of national intelligence, said during his confirmation hearing he did not want to place intelligence professionals in legal jeopardy by saying that waterboarding -- under which suspects are choked with water to compel them to answer questions -- is torture. As Blair was testifying, Obama signed executive orders requiring intelligence agencies to use the Army Field Manual in carrying out interrogations and ordering a review of detainee policy.
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By AMY HARDER
Four days after rumors began swirling about Barack Obama's surprise pick of Leon Panetta for CIA director, the buzz has now become official. At a press conference this morning Obama announced the nominations of Panetta, retired Adm. Dennis Blair for National Intelligence director and former CIA official John Brennan -- who withdrew from consideration for CIA director in November after opposition from liberal bloggers -- as White House homeland security adviser and deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism.
Some Bush administration officials will remain to work with the incoming intelligence team. Current DNI Mike McConnell will offer counsel on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and Michael Leiter will continue as head of the United States National Counterterrorism Center.
Panetta has served as a congressman from California, Office of Management and Budget director, and White House chief of staff to President Clinton, but he has no direct intelligence experience. The unexpected pick has already triggered criticism both in Congress and the media, and will likely generate tough questioning at Panetta's confirmation hearing.
Obama wasted no time pre-emptively defending the pick. After listing Blair's credentials, the president-elect said Blair's experience "will be exceptionally complemented" by Panetta. "Let me be clear," Obama stressed. "In Leon Panetta, the agency will have a director who has my complete trust and substantial clout."
Panetta also received an unequivocal seal of approval from Blair in his remarks. "I couldn't have asked for a better leader for the CIA," Blair said, as he turned to Panetta. "With your background and perspective, the agency is in superb hands."
Panetta, who took to the podium after Blair, stressed the need for a strong intelligence team. "I commit to consulting closely with my former colleagues and the Congress to form the kind of partnership we need to win the war on terror," he said.
Show Me The Stimulus Plan!
Not surprisingly, the president-elect opened the presser with a grim message about December's employment report: 524,000 jobs lost last month. That brings the total number of jobs lost in 2008 to 2.6 million, amounting to "the single worst year of job loss since World War II," Obama said. The incoming president described the situation as "dire, deteriorating" and one that "demands urgent and dramatic action."
Most reporters' questions focused on Obama's forthcoming economic stimulus package. When probed about criticisms surrounding his plan -- specifically regarding its size and the difficulty of pushing it through Congress -- the president-elect said that his administration will always listen and take good economic ideas from any source. "What is not an option," Obama said, "is to sit and engage in posturing or standard partisan fights when the American people out there are struggling. Now, I don't expect Congress is going to do that; they understand the urgency of the situation."
