Someone leaked the news that Leon Panetta would be CIA director to a few publications; I think the New York Times and NBC News had it first.
The leak didn't come from the Obama campaign.
The plan was to announce Panetta later in the week.
It is common custom in Washington to notify committee chairs before the press. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's prerogatives as incoming chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence aren't to be trifled with. The Obama folks know this.
The leak gives the impression that the Obama team wanted to do an end-run around Feinstein. She never truly expected to be given a say in the choice; she just wanted the courtesy of knowing about it.
Having a CIA director with relevant experience is a good thing. But it's hard to find a veteran with recent experience who wasn't tainted by the Bush Administration's policy decisions, and, besides, appointing a strong deputy CIA director, a deputy with experience, could satisfy Feinstein that the agency was in capable hands.
Panetta is an éminence grise of the party and will probably be treated as such, unless he becomes too much of a distraction, which is possible, in which case he knows the code and will act accordingly.
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