I mentioned in April that CIA luminary Phil Mudd was going to become undersecretary of Homeland Security for intelligence, but Jeff Stein scoops the world and reports at CQ that Mudd’s withdrawn his nomination. Why? No idea, trying to find out. Jeff promises more soon.

Update: Laura Rozen fills in the blanks:

The anticipated withdrawal of the nomination of Philip Mudd, a veteran CIA analyst who had worked in recent years as a senior executive at the FBI, comes after an AP report yesterday that said Mudd had had “direct knowledge” of the Bush-era harsh interrogation program while serving in an analytical role at the CIA, as the deputy director of the Office of Terrorism Analysis.