Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta speaks during his ceremonial swearing-in at the CIA headquarters in McLean, Va. Panetta is the 19th director of the agency. (Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images)
by Greg Miller
Presiding over the swearing in of the CIA's new director, Vice President Joseph Biden said today that the agency's actions under the Bush administration had caused "America to fall short of its founding principles."
Biden's comments were met with a muted response from several hundred CIA employees packed into the agency's marble lobby to see Leon E. Panetta sworn in as the CIA's 19th director.
Panetta also alluded to the controversies that beset the agency during the Bush years, with the new director pledging to provide intelligence "not influenced by the politics of the situation, but real, objective information."
The remarks by Biden and Panetta were the latest in a series of efforts by the Obama administration to call attention to its shift away from the intelligence programs of the past eight years, including the use of harsh interrogation methods and secret CIA prisons.
But the two former lawmakers were greeted with booming applause as they arrived for the ceremony and after they concluding their remarks. Biden was a longtime senator from Delaware, Panetta a congressman from California.
Biden drew laughter from the crowd when he joked about his gaffes during a previous swearing-in ceremony. Turning to Panetta, Biden asked: "Are you ready to have me take a crack at administering this oath?"
Panetta also turned to humor. Spotting White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the crowd, the new CIA chief and onetime chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton quipped of Emanuel, another onetime Clinton aide: "I taught him everything he knows. On the other hand, if he screws up...''
Panetta did not finish the sentence.
(White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, above right, with former White House spokesman Barry Toiv, before a swearing-in ceremony for CIA Director Leon Panetta. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite AP)
Comments
Did Panetta teach Rahm Emanuel how to cheat on his taxes, and lie on his disclosure statement? See http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2009/02/09/emanuels-rent-free-apartment-another-potential-tax-headache-for/ for the details Emanuel's BFFs at the Swamp are trying to hide.
Posted by: Inconvenient Truths | February 19, 2009 5:07 PM
I have known Leon Panetta for nearly 40 years and he is one of the finest, most honest public officials I have ever known.
The Nation is fortunate to have him at the head of the CIA, as he is incorruptible.
Posted by: Gervaise Davis | February 19, 2009 5:42 PM
Inky, rumor has it that the "booming" applause came after the crowd noticed Rahm pleasantly smiling while carrying a newspaper wrapped around a dead fish. Any bets on length of tenure for Leon?
Posted by: Bubba Porter | February 19, 2009 5:54 PM
Thanks Mr. Davis.
Finally we get a terse and insightful comment from a real attorney here at The Swamp.
How refreshing.
Posted by: Another Observer | February 19, 2009 5:56 PM
LEON PABETTA was about to be indicted when he 'went' to CALIFORNIA. He is a 'punk' like so many of D^CKHEAD CLINTON's cadre. The only question is what SECRETS will he SELL-OFF at CIA or will MADAME HILLARY with her "...asbestos pants-suits" beat him to the punch by auctioning the STATE DEPARTMENT to the highest foreign bidder??? AMERIKA for SALE by thieves and frauds. [Oh by the way no checks only cash or postal money orders like before with D^CKHEAD and his CHINESE restauranteur!!! Ha.]
Posted by: Zyskandar A. Jaimot | February 19, 2009 10:51 PM
Panetta running the CIA?
That makes a perfect trio of national security incompetents-
Panetta has absolutely NO intelligence or law enforcement experience of any kind... there's nobody more qualified in the United States for this vital position?
Neopolitano as head of homeland security is even worse, same lack of credentials in charge of protecting our country from the likes of Al Qaida. Besides the lack of prerequisites, these appointments are a show of weakness that will surely encourage the insatiable terrorists who see America as their enemy... no matter how blatantly Obama tries to surrender.
All he had to do to give them pause was appoint a Guiliani, but no... we get this.
And the comprehensively unqualified and conflicted Hillary? This obvious political deal by two serial opportunists is appalling, to say the least.
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com
Posted by: Reaganite Republican | February 20, 2009 6:50 AM