New CIA chief will push US aggressive policies

An American investigative journalist says the newly-nominated Central Intelligence Agency chief John Brennan will continue the Obama administration’s aggressive counterterrorism policy, Press TV reports.

“I think he is somebody who is easily confirmable at the CIA that will make Dianne Feinstein, who’s the chair of the Intelligence Committee, happy; but that will continue Obama’s very aggressive counterterrorism policy,” said Marcy Wheeler.

On Monday, US President Barack Obama nominated his chief counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to lead the CIA.

The 25-year CIA veteran will succeed retired general David Petraeus, who resigned from his post due to a scandal over an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, on November 10, 2012.

Wheeler believes Brennan will not bring any policy changes and will only focus on making the CIA a better intelligence collector than before.

“I honestly don’t see policies changing all that dramatically,” she said. “I think, if anything, he may focus on making the CIA a better intelligence collector than they were, say, in Libya. But beyond that, I don’t see any big policy changes.”

Brennan was under Obama’s consideration for the top CIA position in 2008. However, he refused to take the job amid questions about his links to enhanced interrogation tactics during his service in the CIA under former President George W. Bush.

“I did say earlier today, I think his nomination and the fact that his role in the Bush-CIA was problematic in ’08, ’09 that is not here, is really a signifier for how much Obama’s…national security policies have become a continuation of Bush and Cheney’s policies,” Wheeler noted.

Obama also rounded out his second-term national security team on Monday, nominating former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel to head the Department of Defense.