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Panetta promises honesty as CIA director
WASHINGTON – CIA Director Leon Panetta promised honest leadership as he took the helm Thursday of an agency with a public image tarnished by allegations of torture and faulty intelligence estimates.
Cheering CIA employees welcomed Panetta and Vice President Joe Biden, who swore him in, to the agency at Panetta's ceremonial oath-taking.
Panetta has been settling in as the CIA's new director for about a week as he took over an organization with high morale despite its public relations problems. Eight years of Bush administration policies left its relationship with Congress strained. Echoes still linger of the botched 2002 assessment of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, which President George W. Bush used to make the case for the 2003 invasion.
"We expect you to provide independent analysis and not engage in group-think," Biden told the agency personnel. "We expect you to tell us the facts as you know them, wherever they may lead, not what you think we want to hear. And we expect you to give us your best judgment. We will ask no more, but we will ask no less,"
He began his talk with effusive praise for the hundreds of agency employees who crowded into the main hall of the CIA's suburban headquarters to watch the swearing-in.
Panetta, a former member of Congress and White House chief of staff, said his goal would be to re-establish a relationship with the intelligence committees in the Capitol. He pledged honesty with President Barack Obama, within the CIA, and "most importantly, with the people we serve."
Panetta is overseeing major changes in the CIA as directed by Obama, including an end to the use of harsh interrogation tactics and the closure of secret prisons.
WASHINGTON – CIA Director Leon Panetta promised honest leadership as he took the helm Thursday of an agency with a public image tarnished by allegations of torture and faulty intelligence estimates.
Cheering CIA employees welcomed Panetta and Vice President Joe Biden, who swore him in, to the agency at Panetta's ceremonial oath-taking.
Panetta has been settling in as the CIA's new director for about a week as he took over an organization with high morale despite its public relations problems. Eight years of Bush administration policies left its relationship with Congress strained. Echoes still linger of the botched 2002 assessment of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, which President George W. Bush used to make the case for the 2003 invasion.
"We expect you to provide independent analysis and not engage in group-think," Biden told the agency personnel. "We expect you to tell us the facts as you know them, wherever they may lead, not what you think we want to hear. And we expect you to give us your best judgment. We will ask no more, but we will ask no less,"
He began his talk with effusive praise for the hundreds of agency employees who crowded into the main hall of the CIA's suburban headquarters to watch the swearing-in.
Panetta, a former member of Congress and White House chief of staff, said his goal would be to re-establish a relationship with the intelligence committees in the Capitol. He pledged honesty with President Barack Obama, within the CIA, and "most importantly, with the people we serve."
Panetta is overseeing major changes in the CIA as directed by Obama, including an end to the use of harsh interrogation tactics and the closure of secret prisons.
