Dennis Blair leading contender for NID

Politico ^

[Chet 99]

Retired Adm. Dennis Blair, the former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, is surfacing as a leading contender for the director of national intelligence, sources say.

The director oversees the nation’s intelligence activities and is the principal adviser to the president and his National Security Council.

In addition to leading Pacific Command and filling several high-powered jobs within the military, Blair was the associate director of central intelligence for military support, coordinating intelligence and military operations during the Clinton administration. He retired from the Navy in 2002.

Blair receives high marks from those in the defense and intelligence communities.

“He brings the perfect balance of understanding intelligence – how it’s operationalized and how it feeds into the policy process,” said one analyst.

But the picture isn’t entirely rosy.

From 2003 to 2007, Blair was the president of the Institute for Defense Analysis. And his time at IDA could provide fodder for a contentious confirmation hearing.

Blair worked on a report that helped the Air Force decide to pursue a multiyear contract for F-22 Raptor fighter jets. At the same time, he was on the board of EDO Corp., a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin on the F-22 project.

After news reports about the apparent conflict of interest, Blair resigned as the head of IDA and his board seat at EDO.

Sources familiar with his background said they don’t see the incident as an impediment to his confirmation. But the Project on Government Oversight, which investigated the incident, said it’s concerned.

Blair is currently on the boards of Tyco International and Iridium Satellite.

He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1968 along with Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen and former Marine Corps Commandant Michael Hagee. And he was a Rhodes Scholar and a White House fellow.

[patriot preacher]

These “high marks” he receives from “members of the intelligence community,” would be the same members of the intelligence community who leaked classified reports, documents and operations to the NY Times on several ocassions? Who never missed an opportunity to put a knife in the back of the Commander-in-Chief, and thereby the troops he commanded?

Yeah. That’s the kind of “intelligence community” members we need on the bandwagon in support of a new director. Great.