Reyes recommends Obama keep spy chiefs

Reuters/NY Times:

President-elect Barack Obama should retain the Bush administration's top spy chiefs, the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee's Democratic chairman said.

The comments in Wednesday's Congress Daily by U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a Texas Democrat, run counter to the views of his likely Senate counterpart, who has called for a new team.

Reyes said he had recommended to Obama's transition team that CIA Director Michael Hayden and Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell be kept in place for at least six months.

"There's got to be some continuity, and the leadership of both the CIA and the DNI is going to be pivotal to keeping us safe and secure," Reyes said. "I made a recommendation that they stay on during the transition so that there would be a period of time that there would be overlap."

"I know that they're considering, they're weighing the options," he said. Reyes' spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.

Obama last week unveiled other choices for his national security team, and said current Defense Secretary Robert Gates would stay on, but he did not address the intelligence agencies. Some liberal activists have complained that his security team is too hawkish and insufficiently antiwar.

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The "liberal activist" and the human rights wackos would probably go ballistic if Obama had the wisdom to keep Hayden and McConnell. It appears that Reyes has become comfortable with them since taking over the House intelligence committee, and he might be giving Obama cover for keeping them. I hope he does. Hat tip Graham.