CIA, Intel Director Locked In Spy Turf Battle

Obama taps Leon Panetta for CIA, Dennis Blair for DNI in Washington.
January 9, 2009. (Photo from UPI)

From Yahoo News/AP:

WASHINGTON – The nation's two intelligence chiefs are locked in a turf battle over overseas posts, forcing National Security Adviser James L. Jones to mediate, according to current and former government officials.

The jockeying between CIA Director Leon Panetta and National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair centers on Blair's effort to choose his own representatives at U.S. embassies instead of relying only on CIA station chiefs. Current and former U.S. officials described the dispute on the condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of intelligence issues.

Read more ....

My Comment: Reading stories like this always disturb me. Instead of formulating strategy and taking the battle to Al Qaeda and other like minded enemies .... we are battling ourselves. I have been mentioning for the past few months that we are returning to a pre 9/11 mindset .... this is one of those examples which proves my point.