President-elect Barack Obama's decision to appoint Leon Panetta as the leader of the Central Intelligence Agency was a huge surprise for the national intelligence community. Many were expecting Obama to select an intelligence expert, but he opted for a strong manager instead.

By picking the old White House hand as CIA chief, Obama also made clear his intention to break from the Bush administration policies such as harsh interrogations, waterboarding, warrantless wiretapping and the secret transfer of prisoners to other governments with a history of torture. Panetta has openly rejected the methods approved by the Bush administration.

Panetta, a retired congressman, former Clinton White House chief of staff, and former head of the Office Management and Budget, said he will leave his wife, Sylvia, in charge of his public policy institute at CSU-Monterey Bay.

The move of appointing a strong manager and not a career intelligence officer could also be an attempt to insulate the White House from the sometimes parochial agendas of the spy agencies and Panetta, 70, is known as a good manager who knows the government bureaucracy well, but the fact that he was selected to lead the CIA although he has no significant ties with the agency took the intelligence community by surprise. 

However, there were many who complained about Obama’s decision. Not only Republican skeptics have expressed their disappointment in the 44th U.S. President’s move, but among the disappointed were even friends such as fellow Californian, incoming Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who complained about Panetta's lack of intelligence experience.