WASHINGTON - PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama has chosen former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to lead the CIA, which has been widely criticised for harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects, Democratic officials said on Monday.
The choice of Mr Panetta for Central Intelligence Agency director was one of the last major nominations for the incoming Obama administration, which takes over from President George W. Bush on Jan 20.
Mr Panetta has relatively little experience in national security matters. He is best known for imposing order on President Bill Clinton's White House during his 1994-1997 stint as chief of staff and taming budget deficits while there and during his prior 16-year tenure in Congress.
He was a member of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan commission that was charged with assessing a way to end the Iraq war. Its recommendations for a phased troop withdrawal were largely ignored by the Bush administration, which chose to increase the US military presence there instead.
Mr Panetta would succeed Michael Hayden, who has been criticised by some Democrats and human rights groups for his defence of Bush administration counter-terrorism tactics. Mr Hayden has sought to restore stability at the spy agency.
The CIA has been at the centre of a number of major controversies during Mr Bush's presidency, beginning with the intelligence failures before the Sept 11, 2001, attacks and then the faulty pre-war intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs.
The CIA also has been criticised for the use of harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding, on Al-Qaeda suspects, for the secret transfer of captured terrorism suspects to countries known to use torture and for the use of secret prisons overseas for high-level captives.
Mr Obama has vowed to 'put a clear end to torture' and 'restore' a balance between security and constitutional protections.
After leaving the White House, Mr Panetta has directed a public policy centre at California State University, Monterey and served in other positions within California's state university system. He has also sat on a number of corporate and nonprofit boards.
Mr Panetta's choice could appease some liberal activists who have said that Mr Obama's other picks for key national-security posts are too hawkish and insufficiently anti-war.
Sources say Mr Obama has named retired Navy Admiral Dennis Blair to be the top US intelligence official, who would oversee the CIA and other arms of the US intelligence apparatus.
He has also picked retired Marine General James Jones to be national security adviser and has asked current Defence Secretary Robert Gates to remain in charge at the Pentagon. -- REUTERS
