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President-elect Barack Obama has finally decided who is to lead the US Central Intelligence Agency. Leon Panetta, Co-Director of the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, is relatively unknown in intelligence circles and will head an agency with a sordid history of circumventing laws and human rights standards over the decades. Panetta served eight terms in the House of Representatives from 1976 to 1993, and, more recently has been a vocal critic of the interrogation and torture practices of the CIA. Under the Bush administration, the CIA sank to new depths over the Iraq war and it remains to be seen whether Panetta, known for having integrity and being a skilled manager, will reform the organization. Although Panetta’s pick has been welcomed by members of both major parties, some in the Senate have expressed disapproval about not being notified in advance of Obama’s choice. In attempting to pick an intelligence chief not tainted by involvement in the Bush CIA, Obama certainly had few options.

GUEST: Ray McGovern, retired CIA officer who worked under 7 US presidents, presenting morning intelligence briefings for many of them, currently an anti-war political activist