Obama announces key intelligence appointments (Roundup)

Washington - US president-elect Barack Obama named former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to head the CIA and nominated a retired Navy admiral to oversee the entire espionage community. Dennis Blair, the chief of US Pacific Command from 1999 to 2002, will become the director of national intelligence, a so-called czar for coordinating the espionage activities and analyses of the nation's 16 intelligence organizations. In addition to the CIA, those include the Defence Intelligence Agency and the super secret National Security Agency, as well as outfits in the Army, Navy, Air Force, State Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The choice of Panetta, 70, has been questioned because he does not have direct experience in the intelligence field, but also reflects the difficulty of finding seasoned candidates untainted by President George W Bush's harsh interrogation policies in the war on terrorism. The CIA has been criticized for its use of waterboarding on a handful of terrorist suspects and other allegations of torture. 'I was clear throughout this campaign and have been clear throughout this transition that under my administration the United States does not torture,' Obama said. 'We will abide by the Geneva Conventions (and) we will uphold our highest values and ideals.' 'That is a clear charge that I have given to admiral Blair and to Leon Panetta,' he said. The selections fill out the most senior national security positions for the Obama cabinet. The Senate must confirm both nominees. Obama, in December, named former rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and said that he was keeping Defence Secretary Robert Gates in the post. Former Marine General James Jones will serve as his national security advisor. Blair, 61, will be responsible for providing the president with daily intelligence briefings, usually the first order of business every morning, and ensuring Obama receives a broad array of perspectives from the various agencies. Some Democratic and Republican senators have criticized the choice of Panetta for his lack of experience and for it being leaked to the media before members of Congress were briefed. But it is widely expected that Panetta's nomination will clear the Senate. Panetta was a congressman from California from 1977 to 1993 before becoming Bill Clinton's top aide in the White House in 1994 during a shake-up of his senior staff. Panetta, a Washington insider, was credited with bringing order to the White House after a tumultuous first two years of the Clinton presidency. Blair would become the third director of national intelligence, a position created by Bush in 2004 based on the recommendations of a commission investigating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The panel concluded that the espionage community failed to communicate effectively throughout the various bureaucracies. As head of Pacific Command, Blair was responsible for military operations in the Asia-Pacific region. Blair, a Rhodes Scholar who began his naval career in 1968, also served as the Joint Chiefs of Staff and on the National Security Council. After leaving the Navy, Blair became president of the Institute for Defense Analyses, the Pentagon think tank. He stepped down in 2006 after an internal Defence Department inquiry found he should have recused himself from two studies on the F-22 programme because he served on two company boards involved in the fighter jet. The Pentagon probe concluded there was a conflict of interest even though it determined Blair did not unduly influence the studies' conclusions. Blair denied any wrongdoing.