Who’s Getting The Intel Jobs in an Obama Administration?

Mark Hosenball at Newsweek names some people potentially in the running to be director of national intelligence in an Obama administration:

Some prominent politicians who have handled intelligence issues–including Rep Jane Harman, a former top House Intelligence Committee Democrat; former Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Bob Graham; and former 9/11 Commission member Tim Roemer–have expressed interest in the job, according to people following the Obama transition.

The conventional wisdom is that you want a career intelligence official for a job that really should be non-political but almost certainly won’t be. And there’s a lot of merit to that. But it’s worth noting that just because you’re a career intelligence guy doesn’t mean you won’t blatantly misrepresent intelligence to suit your political overlords. That’s not to say a politico will do any better, just that the pressures placed on the head of the intelligence community to skew analysis are inherent to the job. Obama, according to Hosenball, is considering Marine Gen. Jim Jones for the job as well.

Interestingly, Hosenball hears that some in CIA are reassured by career-agency guy John Brennan’s place on Obama’s transition team. I do wonder what people think about Jami Miscik backstopping Brennan, though.