When Panetta was told that Mr. Petraeus was a contender to replace him at CIA, “that gave me pause,” he writes, adding that he “worried more than a bit” about whether a four-star general who was so used to entourages and a strict chain of command "could bond effectively with the agency staff, who it seemed to me thrived in a more casual and freewheeling and less hierarchical environment.”
“I tried to raise my concerns gingerly,” Panetta notes, asking Mr. Biden “Are you sure you want to do that?” He suspected that the White House “shared at least some of my apprehensions about Petraeus.”
Ultimately, the White House went ahead with their plan.
“My guess is that Obama’s advisers were taken with the idea of moving the general to the CIA in part for political reasons,” Panetta concludes. “Placing him atop the agency almost certainly would distract him, at least for a while, from the presidential ambitions he was believed to harbor. And of course, he was qualified and had the stature for the post.”
