U.S. Spy Chiefs Come and Go

Dennis C. Blair ‘s impending exit as director of U.S. national intelligence, a position he held for slightly more than a year, likely signals even more movement of the pendulum of national-security influence in the direction of the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency.  Already the Obama administration has given its support to the C.I.A.’s use of drone aircraft to kill militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas, a campaign begun the day after a suicide bombing took the lives of seven Americans – several of them key C.I.A. operatives - in Khost, Afghanistan on December 30, 2009.  Furthermore, Blair’s rumoured successor may be  James R. Clapper Jr., a retired Air Force lieutenant general and reportedly a top Pentagon intelligence official. 

Given that Blair’s replacement will be the fourth intelligence director in five years, the attrition rate for the post has similarities to the turnover rate experienced by teachers of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts school for wizards.