Brennan withdraws name for top spy

Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 2:35 PM by Domenico Montanaro

From NBC's Robert Windrem
In a letter to President-elect Obama, John Brennan has asked that his name be withdrawn from consideration as CIA director.

Video: President-elect Barack Obama's top advisor in intelligence has taken his name out of the running for any position with the Obama White House. NBC's John Yang reports.

Brennan was thought to be the leading candidate for the job. He was the former chief of staff to then-CIA Director George Tenet, former executive assistant to Tenet and former station chief in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Reporters and others were asking questions about what role Brennan played in the decision to "torture" high value targets. (Full letter here.)

NBC's Savannah Guthrie adds this statement from Obama transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter:

"John Brennan has served our nation with honor and is a man of talent and integrity. The President-elect accepts his decision to withdraw from consideration for a position in the intelligence community but he is grateful for John's contining assistance as a valuable member of our transition team. "

EMAIL THIS

Comments

I don't know anything about Mr. Brennan specifically, but it's gonna be hard to find someone with experience who WASN'T involved at some level (or with at least the appearance of it) in the CIA torture stuff. Thanks, Bush/Cheney, yet again.

Indie Woman in Denver (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 2:47 PM)

This would have been a very troubling appointment. Very troubling.

Pat, Boston, MA (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 2:58 PM)

Richard Clark for CIA - he knows what he is talking about - let him do it.

Kay P Tempe AZ (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 2:59 PM)

Withdrawal, John Brennan wow that is a slam dunk. No More Drama for President-elect Obama and it means no meandering over a war budget; plus more money for infrastructures.

Thank you President-elect Obama for keeping a steady hand.
P.S. Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day feasts everyone.

Beverly in Chicago (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 2:59 PM)

a victory for progressives and for America.

dragnet (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:14 PM)

Brennan is doing the honorable thing. In his letter he professes opposition to Bush's preemptive Iraq war and coercive interrogation tactics, but Brennan has been tainted by the stench of those wrong decisions...a reminder to us all about distancing ourselves from things that may come back to haunt us, even if we're not directly involved.

Gail, TN (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:16 PM)

Why is torture in quotation marks? Can we get away from euphemism and obfuscation and actually call things what they are? If you want to appear judicious, used the word alleged, but putting torture in quotation marks acts like it doesn't exist and hasn't been committed by American operatives and soldiers. By now, we know better.

Jacob Silverman, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:19 PM)

WE DID IT!

YEAH!

The torture regime is ending.

Katherine (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:31 PM)

This is certainly a victory for the anti-torture movement, but I think it's also worth noting the fundamental decency of Brennan to actually come out and step down from consideration.

Nob Akimoto (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:51 PM)

>>>Richard Clark for CIA - he knows what he is talking about - let him do it.
Kay P Tempe AZ (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 2:59 PM)

==========
I absolutely agree here. Clarke would make an excellent CIA director with his knowledge of terrorism.

56 Days Until Inauguration Day!
http://jawillie.blog.com

jawillie, Philadelphia, PA. (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:53 PM)

This was a man with a record that was, most generously, fly-specked with questionable decisions and quite possibly dishonorable counsel. Despite his protestations, he was tainted by the Bush Administrations endorsement of torture. Let him live outside any government position, with his conscience

P Michael, Baltimore, MD (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 4:06 PM)

I, too, question why you put the word torture in quotation marks. Why are you still protecting the people who, indeed, tortured? Do you think by placing the word in quotation marks that Americans won't think it actually happened? Do we all not know better? Both Bush and Cheney should be tried as war criminals. Thank goodness their "rein" is almost over.

Diane from Illinois (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 4:17 PM)

"torture" is in quotes because according to MSNBC there is no such thing as torture. Torture, like everything else, is a thrilling political talking point that has no bearing on anyone's real life -- just like all infotainment. That's because MSNBC is a "news outlet" run by "journalists" who "care" about the quality of their "product."

Douglas Watts, Maine (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 4:27 PM)

"Reporters and others were asking questions about what role Brennan played in the decision to "torture" high value targets."
---
Nice Orwellian touch, Dominic. Note that people are not tortured. Just "targets."

But if an American white woman was "tortured" by say ... Iran's secret police ... I doubt you would use the above language.

Why?

Douglas Watts, Maine (Sent Tuesday, November 25, 2008 4:30 PM)

SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.):

Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private) Remember me?

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=1688701