US Government shifts in organization

General David Patraeus, formerly commander of the international NATO taskforce in Afghanistan and before that commander of USCENTCOM, has been moved by President Obama to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Meanwhile, the Director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, is replacing Secretary Gates as the new Secretary of Defense.

I believe that both Patraeus and Panetta are very qualified and intelligent. While some doubt that Patraeus has enough experience in intelligence to lead the CIA, I believe the move promotes coordination between intelligence and military operations, which is especially necessary in Afghanistan where both have such a large presence that they are quite often both working on the same mission. However, I am fearful of over-paramilitarization of the CIA.

What are your opinions? Do you believe these men are capable? Do you think they should be in these positions? If not, who else?

 

They are extremely capable; as they wouldn't have been chosen for these positions if they were not so.

The positional ladder is of much quality- which in simple terms, means that alot of thought goes through the positional process before a decision is made.

 

While the government usually makes good decisions on these topics, taking every decision to be "quality" without critically examining it is very dangerous. The people must make sure the few they elected to represent them are doing a good job by questioning, not blindly accepting.

 

I think Leon Panetta is qualified for the job but I just question the timing of placing Patraeus there since he is the commander of the forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

He is currently the commander of the ISAF (international NATO force) in Afghanistan. I'm sure he will have a suitable replacement.

 

He has experience leading an organization that's why they chose him.

 

I think that both individuals are qualified, and that this kind of move just makes our military branches all the more coordinated, and thus powerful. Our drones seem to be doing the job, and we've tagged and bagged more d-bag terrorists in the last couple years it seems. Some big name's too, not just scrubs