The US Senate on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to confirm General David Petraeus, now commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, to be the new director of the CIA.
The vote was 94-0, making Petraeus the second senior nominee for US President Barack Obama’s national security team to win Senate confirmation unopposed this month. The other was Leon Panetta, who is leaving the CIA director’s job to become US secretary of defense.
Petraeus is expected to complete his command in Kabul this month, then hang up his military uniform and start his new civilian job at the CIA in September. Until then, the CIA’s deputy director Michael Morell will serve as acting director of the intelligence agency.
Photo: Reuters
Petraeus, hailed for his role in the Iraq war, faces daunting challenges at the CIA — providing accurate intelligence on trends in Afghanistan; tracking and neutralizing militants on multiple continents; and monitoring issues from climate change to the political effects of global economic upheaval.
Before the vote, the 58-year-old Petraeus was lauded as “among the finest military officers and strategic thinkers of his generation,” as Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, put it.
He is credited with salvaging the US effort in Iraq, where he led the 2007 surge of US forces, and improving the security situation in Afghanistan during the US military surge there in the past year. Throughout his career of 37 years in the military, he also has earned a reputation for brains and political savvy.
The Senate on a voice vote also approved Ryan Crocker to be US ambassador to Afghanistan. Crocker, a career diplomat, is a former ambassador to Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon.
Petraeus was confirmed as CIA director one year to the day after he was confirmed by the Senate to become the commander of the troubled war in Afghanistan.
Petraeus understood that the terrorist threat had changed, spreading to countries such as Yemen and Somalia, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said before the vote.
“I don’t believe any single person understands the threats America faces better than General Petraeus and at the CIA he’ll have a chance to take the fight to the enemy in a different way,” Graham said.
Also on Thursday, Obama hailed retiring US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Thursday as a “humble” patriot whose bipartisan civility should serve as an example to Washington’s feuding politicians.
Obama, locked in an acrimonious battle with his Republican foes over raising the government’s debt limit, said Gates loved the troops and rose above bitter political divisions to protect the country’s interests.
“The integrity of Bob Gates is also a reminder, especially to folks here in Washington, that civility and respectful discourse, and citizenship over partisanship are not quaint relics of a bygone era,” Obama said at an elaborate farewell ceremony at the Pentagon. “They are the timeless virtues that we need now more than ever.”
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