The US Senate on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to confirm General David Petraeus, currently commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, to be the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The vote was 94-0, making Petraeus the second senior nominee for 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 Pentagon chief. Petraeus is expected to complete his command in Kabul in July, 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. 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 tracking issues as diverse as climate change and the political effects of global economic upheaval.
