Panetta right one to repair CIA

Universities selecting new presidents are often advised to choose a leader who reflects where the institution believes itself to be and where it wants to go. President Barack Obama followed that same counsel when he chose Leon Panetta as the new director of the CIA, a battered agency reeling from divisive leadership. The CIA needs a proven leader who can revitalize the agency and restore its credibility.

The CIA’s current troubles have three origins. First, the CIA has strayed far from its basic mission. At its best, it is a human intelligence agency, which provides information not otherwise available so decision-makers can make better judgments. In Bush’s first term, the administration disregarded that aspiration and demanded politicized intelligence. Whereas the CIA was founded to “speak truth to power,” its new mantra became “tell us what you want to hear.”

Despite Director Michael Hayden’s second-term efforts to stabilize the agency and loosen the White House’s iron fist, matters worsened, and the agency became ensnared in the rendition of foreign detainees, torture and use of excessive interrogation techniques. As a result, congressional confidence has plummeted. Panetta will rebuild this essential relationship.

Second, the CIA has lost institutional clout. From 1947 to 2004, the CIA director wore a second hat as director of central intelligence. In this second position, he was ostensibly the first among equals and responsible for the overall direction of the intelligence community. Unfortunately, most directors ignored that responsibility. The massive intelligence failures surrounding the 9/11 attacks and our involvement in Iraq sent a loud signal that somebody needed to take the role seriously.

In 2004, on the recommendation of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks and the 9/11 Commission, Congress created the new position of director of national intelligence. The DNI sits on top of an intelligence hierarchy that consists of 16 other intelligence agencies. This new arrangement has been difficult for the CIA, which has publicly grumbled about loss of turf and status. Panetta has the leadership abilities to dramatically improve internal morale and external standing.

Third, the CIA has failed to accomplish its most high-profile, signature mission: the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden. While some would degrade the importance of this goal, bin Laden has murdered more than 3,000 Americans and leads al-Qaida, the terrorist network that most threatens our national interests. The fact that bin Laden remains at large more than seven years after 9/11 is a major embarrassment to the CIA. Panetta is committed to the accomplishment of this vital mission.

Panetta is the right person to lift the CIA out of its current doldrums. He has been a major consumer of intelligence. As President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff for three years, he was on the receiving end of massive amounts of intelligence data. In that role, he learned to evaluate intelligence, use it to inform decision-making and task the respective agencies to gather more information.

Additionally, Panetta has the proven managerial skills that a complex agency with tens of thousands of employees desperately requires. When Panetta became White House chief of staff in July 1994, the Clinton administration was widely seen as politically and legislatively adrift. By the end of his tenure in January 1997, Panetta had presided over the passage of welfare reform, a minimum wage increase and President Clinton’s successful re-election bid.

At a time when the CIA is perceived as rudderless, Panetta is uniquely prepared to set CIA’s priorities and oversee their attainment. His past experience as chairman of the House Budget Committee and director of the Office of Management and Budget is an added bonus in the current fiscal environment.

Finally, Leon Panetta is a politician who understands the importance of relationships both within the intelligence community and with outside stakeholders. As a member of Congress for 16 years and a former White House leader, Panetta will help restore the agency’s troubled relations at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

> Bob Graham was a Democratic senator from Florida from 1987 to 2005 and served as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee from 2001 to 2003.