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DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#40001: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:10:12 PM

Candidates mean nothing. I've seen dozens listed off as potential choices,

Who he actually picks will say a lot though.

edited 12th Nov '12 6:16:25 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Serocco Serocco from Miami, Florida Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
Serocco
#40002: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:10:17 PM

Speaking of who he picks, I hear that Obama is considering Michael Morell to be the new Director of the CIA. Still awaiting Senate approval for that, though. Morell is currently the interim Director, and he already served as interim Director for Leon Panetta after Obama appointed the latter for Secretary of Defense.

edited 12th Nov '12 6:15:43 PM by Serocco

In RWBY, every girl is Best Girl.
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#40003: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:11:16 PM

deathpigeon: How does it shed light on his position? We told you that he doesn't have to agree with his Secretary of State on every single thing. You are also treating this like it's a done deal when there are several other people he's considering and none of them seem objectionable.

Deviant: I'm fine with most of those. Again, I see no issue with this guy being a possibility in Obama's mind.

edited 12th Nov '12 6:12:08 PM by Kostya

Serocco Serocco from Miami, Florida Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
Serocco
#40004: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:13:45 PM

[up] Okay, fine, a possibility is one thing, but what if Obama actually chooses the guy?

In RWBY, every girl is Best Girl.
DrunkGirlfriend from Castle Geekhaven Since: Jan, 2011
#40005: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:16:07 PM

[up] Then the world comes to a screeching halt and crashes into the sun, from the way you guys are making it out to be.

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#40006: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:17:09 PM

Well then I'll be annoyed. My first reaction will probably be figuring out what his rationale is and if I don't like it I'll join/start a campaign to convince him to retract his choice.

Serocco Serocco from Miami, Florida Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
Serocco
#40007: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:17:47 PM

[up][up] Internet censorship is not a good thing, you know.

All right, onto Petraeus' possible replacement. Who else knows about Michael Morell?

edited 12th Nov '12 6:18:17 PM by Serocco

In RWBY, every girl is Best Girl.
deathpigeon Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#40008: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:20:15 PM

@Kostaya: It means that he probably agrees with some of what the man said for him to consider the man as a choice. When coupled with his initial support of SOPA, and his crackdown on internet freedom (such as the shutdown of Megaupload), we can conclude that he probably holds similar positions on internet freedom.

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#40009: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:20:32 PM

[up][up]True but him being secretary of state does not mean internet censorship will automatically begin. It doesn't even mean he'll try and push that through again. Now if he does then we get pissed and start another anti-SOPA effort but wait until they actually try and do something.

[up]So internet freedom is the only thing he could possibly agree with him on? That seems a little silly. Even so he did actually condemn it.

edited 12th Nov '12 6:23:04 PM by Kostya

Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#40010: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:21:37 PM

Look, what positions does the guy have aside from censorship?

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
Trivialis Since: Oct, 2011
#40011: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:22:38 PM

If he gets formally nominated, we'll probably see protests before Senate votes on him.. President Obama doesn't just ignore something like that, not after his campaign messages.

Serocco Serocco from Miami, Florida Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
Serocco
#40012: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:22:50 PM

[up][up] Pushing for the Iraq War particularly stands out.

edited 12th Nov '12 6:23:14 PM by Serocco

In RWBY, every girl is Best Girl.
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#40013: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:23:42 PM

Mr. Michael J. Morell became Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on November 9, 2012. A career Agency officer, he has held a variety of leadership positions, including Deputy Director of CIA, Associate Deputy Director of CIA, and Director for Intelligence.

Mr. Morell served as Deputy Director, beginning in May 2010, under former Directors Leon E. Panetta and David H. Petraeus. As Associate Deputy Director from July 2006 until May 2008, he assisted the Director in the overall leadership of the Agency, focusing on its internal management. As Director for Intelligence for the two years prior to his current assignment, Mr. Morell guided the Agency’s all-source analytic arm, which produces strategic and tactical assessments for US policymakers and military commanders.

Mr. Morell began his Agency career as an analyst tracking international energy issues, and subsequently worked for 14 years as an analyst and manager on East Asia. In 1999, he was appointed Director of the DI’s Office of Asian Pacific and Latin American Analysis. He also has served as a presidential briefer, as chief of the staff that produces the President’s Daily Brief, and as an executive assistant to DCI George J. Tenet. From 2003 until 2006, he served overseas. Upon his return, he was briefly Deputy Director for Intelligence at the National Counterterrorism Center before being asked to become Associate Deputy Director at CIA.

Mr. Morell earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Akron and a master’s degree in economics from Georgetown University.

Other then that, nothing is really known about the guy. He's a spook.

edited 12th Nov '12 6:25:56 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#40014: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:24:02 PM

[up][up]Again, if you hold that against every single politician that supported it you will have to hate Clinton and Biden too. Keep in mind the public weren't the only ones lied to over this. Also Obama is attempting to end it so I doubt he'll change his mind just because this guy is in charge.

edited 12th Nov '12 6:24:27 PM by Kostya

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#40015: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:25:07 PM

Considering Obama's generally savvy use of the internet, I somehow doubt he wants to shut it all down. This is one of those situations where there's a whole lot of things at work here, and it's not entirely in his control. If, somehow, another SOPA like measure gets through Congress there's little the president can do to stop it. Seriously, before the petition and blackout most of both Houses were for it. With that much support there's no president that could have done anything.

That said, after the whole SOPA debacle, I highly doubt that it would happen again. I also have severe doubts about the enforceability of any such measure. From what I know of the Megaupload thing, is that its actual shutdown was.. not the president's decision. In fact everything I hear of that situation the president isn't directly involved at all; that's the morass of our laws regarding the internet that currently exist that are responsible.

So yeah. Can't really see the president as at fault in this particular issue, really.

Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#40016: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:25:53 PM

Serocco: List another.

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Serocco Serocco from Miami, Florida Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
Serocco
#40018: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:29:12 PM

Let's be clear - internet shutdown will not occur. Stuff like the Orwellian Editor or Big Brother Is Watching - that kinda stuff will likely continue.

[up] Gut instinct was right. I knew something was up with Morell.

edited 12th Nov '12 6:29:45 PM by Serocco

In RWBY, every girl is Best Girl.
Trivialis Since: Oct, 2011
#40019: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:29:34 PM

[up]x3 Berman seems to be concerned about need of immigration reform.

http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2001/1101bacon.html

edited 12th Nov '12 6:30:09 PM by Trivialis

Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#40020: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:29:40 PM

Answer me please, Serocco.

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
Serocco Serocco from Miami, Florida Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
Serocco
#40021: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:30:18 PM

[up] Immigration reform, as listed above.

In RWBY, every girl is Best Girl.
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#40022: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:31:02 PM

Apparently, It was Morell who in August 2001 delivered the fateful report, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike the U.S.,” that would be made infamous by the 9/11 Commission.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Serocco Serocco from Miami, Florida Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
Serocco
#40023: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:31:12 PM

For anyone interested in Morell, he joined the CIA during 1980. As far as his career goes, he spearheaded the CIA divisions on Asia, Latin America and the Pacific, and he managed the staff that produced the Presidential Daily Briefings for George W Bush.

Gut instinct doesn't like the implications of that, but again, he was also the guy that figured Al-Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center.

In RWBY, every girl is Best Girl.
Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#40024: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:31:39 PM

Well, there you are.

That's a perfectly good reason to appoint someone, isn't it?

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#40025: Nov 12th 2012 at 6:34:25 PM

There can't be a lot of guys with qualifications for being the head of the CIA, so Morell may be on a very short list. *shrug* Can't say I've ever heard of the guy. And I'd thought Petreuas had retired a while ago.


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