President Obama's National Security Nominations Will Face Some Senate Opposition

Chuck Hagel And John Brennan Nominations Set Up Showdown With GOP -- The Guardian

President's picks to lead Pentagon and CIA face opposition from lawmakers who disapprove of proposed national security team

President Barack Obama was finalising his second-term national security team on Monday with the nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary and counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan as head of the CIA – and in the process opens a new front in his bitter fight with Republicans in Congress.

After losing a bruising battle to nominate Susan Rice as Hillary Clinton's replacement at the State Department, Obama will name Hagel –
a decorated war hero – as head of the Pentagon, despite vows of resistance from Republicans who accuse the former Nebraska senator of opposing measures to stop Iran obtaining a nuclear capability and of offering less than rock-solid support for Israel.

Read more ....

My Comment: The Democrat controlled U.S. Senate is not going to deny President Obama his national security team. but the confirmation process is going to be interesting .... and I predict very informative on where U.S. national security policies are heading.

The Nomination Of John Brennan For CIA Director -- News Updates

The Answer Man: A Washington Power-Read On John Brennan. -- Foreign Policy

Unlike Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, a known Washington commodity, White House counterterrorism advisor John O. Brennan, the new nominee to lead the CIA, is a less familiar figure. But as one of President Barack Obama's closest advisers, Brennan has unsurprisingly featured as an important role-player in many of the insider accounts written about the administration's national security policies. The portrait that emerges from the books on Obama's first term is one of a man intensely loyal to the president whose trust he enjoys, sometimes to the point of alienating his colleagues. Among the insights gleaned, the former Riyadh CIA station chief and fluent Arabic speaker is clearly one of the most knowledgeable and well-connected senior U.S. officials when it comes to the Middle East, but he has a habit of sometimes speaking publicly without all the facts. And he has also taken on the seemingly contradictory roles as one of the most outspoken champions of the U.S. drone program while pushing within the administration to limit the use of American force. Here's a look at what we know about Brennan so far, culled from seven of the best recent books on U.S. foreign policy:

Read more ....

More News On The Nomination Of John Brennan For CIA Director

For CIA chief, Obama taps adviser who defended drone strikes -- Reuters
Brennan Chosen for CIA After Role in Bin Laden Operation -- Bloomberg
CIA nominee John Brennan no stranger to spycraft, politics -- L.A. Times
Sen. Cornyn threatens to block Brennan's nomination as CIA chief -- The Hill
Obama's CIA nominee to face tough questions about ‘enhanced interrogation’ -- The Hill
Graham seeks delay to confirmation of Brennan until Benghazi questions answered -- FOX News
Brennan pick revives leaks dispute -- Politico
With John Brennan, Obama doubles down on drone strikes -- Christian Science Monitor
John Brennan As CIA Chief Would Cement A New Era Of US Counterterrorism -- Michael Kelley and Geoffrey Ingersoll, Business Insider
Choice to Lead C.I.A. Faces a Changed Agency -- New York Times
Obama’s CIA pick chose spycraft over priesthood -- Army Times/AP
You Can Order Hundreds of Drone Strikes and Still Be Called ‘Wet Nurse’ of Terrorism -- Spencer Ackerman, Danger Room
If You Thought Obama’s Drone Godfather Was Powerful, Wait ‘Til He’s at the CIA -- Spencer Ackerman and Noah Shachtman, Danger Room

President Obama To Nominate John Brennan For CIA Director -- A News Roundup

Obama Nominates Mastermind Of Controversial Drone Strike Program As Next CIA Director -- Daily Mail

* John Brennan is behind programme that has carried out over 300 remote strikes against terrorist targets, killing some 2,500 people
* Drawn fire from Democrats for connection to 'torture' techniques such as waterboarding under Bush administration
* Also criticised for wrongly stating bin Laden was armed and had used his wife as a human shield in a briefing following the historic SEAL Team Six raid
* Nominated after David Petraeus quit following revelations of his clandestine affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell

The man who has masterminded the expansion of a drone programme that has carried out more than 300 remote strikes against terrorist targets, killing some 2,500 people, is to be nominated as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

John Brennan, 57, the current head of counter-terrorism, has also provoked ire on the Left because of his connection during the Bush administration, when he was a senior CIA officer, to 'Enhanced Interrogation Techniques' such as water-boarding, which many regard as torture.

Read more ....

More News On President Obama Nominating John Brennan To Be The Next CIA Director

Obama Picks John Brennan as CIA Chief -- Daily Beast
Obama Taps John Brennan To Be Next CIA Director, White House Officials Say -- NBC
Obama to tap John Brennan to head CIA -- CBS/AP
US President to Nominate Brennan as CIA Chief -- Voice of America
Brennan: A counterterrorism expert set to lead CIA -- AFP
Official: Obama to tap Brennan as CIA director -- CNN
Counterterrorism Adviser Brennan To Be Tapped For CIA -- NPR
Obama To Nominate John Brennan To Lead CIA -- Slate
John Brennan tapped to lead CIA -- Politico
Obama Picks John Brennan for CIA Chief in National Security Double Feature -- New York Magazine
Obama expected to nominate John Brennan for director of CIA position -- Examiner
John Brennan, Obama terrorism advisor, to head CIA (WATCH LIVE) -- Global Post
Will C.I.A. Director Nominee John Brennan Still Love Hunting Terrorists if It’s All So Above Board Now? -- Juli Weiner, Vanity Fair
John Brennan as CIA Director: What It Means -- Micah Zenko, Council On Foreign Relations
John Brennan: Obama’s (Holy) Ghost Warrior -- Time
The Brennan Case -- Mark Halperin, Time
John Brennan's extremism and dishonesty rewarded with CIA Director nomination -- Glen Greenwald, The Guardian
Profile: John Brennan -- BBC
Biographical information for John Brennan -- FOX News/AP

Meet The Man Who Is Transforming U.S. Counterterrorism Policy

President Barack Obama is briefed on the situation in Libya by John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, in Chilmark, Mass., Aug. 26, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

A CIA Veteran Transforms U.S. Counterterrorism Policy -- Washington Post

In his windowless White House office, presidential counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan is compiling the rules for a war the Obama administration believes will far outlast its own time in office, whether that is just a few more months or four more years.

The “playbook,” as Brennan calls it, will lay out the administration’s evolving procedures for the targeted killings that have come to define its fight against al-Qaeda and its affiliates. It will cover the selection and approval of targets from the “disposition matrix,” the designation of who should pull the trigger when a killing is warranted, and the legal authorities the administration thinks sanction its actions in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and beyond.

Read more ....

My Comment: He has not only transformed America's counterterrorism policy under President Obama, but there is a very good chance that it will still continue under a Romney administration if Mitt Romney should win the election.