Tough Sailing For Lake?

Appearing on CNN's "Late Edition," Senate Budget chair Pete Domenici (NM) said of the new members of the nat'l security team, NSA Tony Lake, nominated to be the next CIA dir., is "the one that's most apt to get some congressional criticism, and they might be a little tough on him. ... The Senate thought John Deutch was doing a pretty good job. And all of a sudden, unceremoniously, he's replaced in a kind of an in-house coup. ... Tough sailing in my opinion. Tough sailing."

Bush Sec/State Larry Eagleburger: "The CIA has been banged around for the last decade, if not more. ... It's in bad shape, it needs reform, and I'm not sure Tony Lake is strong enough to do it."

Ex-Clinton CIA Dir. James Woolsey: "Being director of Central Intelligence is a skunk-at-the-garden-party job. You're always telling people things they don't want to hear, sometimes that their policies aren't working. ... He has to, I think, be prepared to stand up clearly and reflect, sometimes perhaps modulate, but nonetheless reflect, the views of the professionals in the intelligence community on some issues where he was involved as an architect of the policies and the policies may now not be working out" (12/8).

Domenici is not on the Select Committee on Intelligence. L.I. NEWSDAY's Nelson writes, "As soon as the scholarly, gentlemanly Tony Lake was named ... sad but knowing smiles appeared all across Washington: Another lamb is being led to the slaughter. The CIA will eat him alive" (12/9).

White House Chief of Staff Leon Pannetta disputed suggestions that Lake was being "edged out" and said he "believes President Clinton would have been happy to let Lake stay if he had wanted." Panetta also said Lake "embraced" the CIA job when the possibility was raised with him last month. Panetta's comments came "after published speculation -- offered anonymously by Lake rivals in the foreign policy community -- that Clinton decided to move [Lake] after criticism" of the NSA "from officials in other agencies" (Harris, W. POST, 12/8).

Experts say that Lake is "a liberal foreign policy specialist with no experience in running a large bureaucracy, but ... has a low-key leadership style that may be welcomed at the troubled agency." Lake "also may have trouble switching roles from serving as the president's chief policy coordinator to providing unvarnished analysis and gathering intelligence." Ex-CIA officer James Lilley: "Lake has inherited one of the more difficult bureaucracies in government" (Gertz, W. TIMES, 12/7).