U.S. media outlets are reporting that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen a former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton to serve as the new head of the Central Intelligence Agency. Leon Panetta is considered a surprise choice for the position because he has no background in the intelligence world. In addition to his time in the White House, he has also been the director of the Office of Management and Budget and a longtime congressman from California. He served on the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel that released a report at the end of 2006 with dozens of recommendations for improving the situation in Iraq. Panetta currently directs the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, based at California State University, Monterey Bay a university he helped establish.
