CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell Resigns
Source: Associated Press / Washington Post
@AP: BREAKING: CIA deputy director Michael Morell resigns. -MM
@ReutersUS: Obama to appoint Avril Haines as CIA deputy director; Michael Morell joins presidential intelligence advisory board #developing
CIA DEPUTY DIRECTOR MORELL STEPS DOWN
By KIMBERLY DOZIER
— Jun. 12 4:12 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell retired from his post Wednesday, after managing the resignation of former CIA Director David Petraeus (peh-TRAY'-uhs) over an extramarital affair, and defending the agency's performance over the attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
Morell was passed over for the top CIA spot by President Barack Obama in favor of his counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, who announced Morrell's departure Wednesday.
Brennan said he Morell will be replaced by Avril Haines, currently a deputy assistant to the president and legal adviser at the National Security Council.
Morell agreed to the State Department's request to remove a reference to militants in a controversial memo of talking points on the Libya attack.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/cia-deputy-director-morell-steps-down
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cias-deputy-director-to-be-replaced-with-white-house-lawyer/2013/06/12/8fc2118e-d383-11e2-8cbe-1bcbee06f8f8_story.html
CIA’s deputy director to be replaced with White House lawyer
By Karen DeYoung and Greg Miller, Published: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 3:35 PM ET
The CIA’s deputy director plans to resign and will be replaced by White House lawyer and agency outsider Avril D. Haines, Director John O. Brennan said Wednesday.
Haines, who will succeed career officer Michael Morell on Aug. 9, has served for three years as President Obama’s deputy counsel in charge of national security issues and as legal adviser to the National Security Council. Although she has never worked inside the intelligence agency, “she knows more about covert action than anyone in the U.S. government outside of the CIA,” Brennan said his first interview since becoming CIA director in March.
The surprise move gives Brennan an ally in the CIA’s executive suite who helped him rewrite the rules of the drone campaign that were recently announced by Obama. Unlike an agency insider, Haines has no direct investment in any of the counterterrorism programs that Brennan has indicated he will seek to rein in.
In a message to the CIA on Wednesday afternoon, Brennan emphasized that Haines, 43, has worked closely with senior national security officials. “She has participated in virtually every deputies and principals committee meeting over the past two years and chairs the Lawyer’s Group that reviews the Agency’s most sensitive programs,” the statement said.
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