Feinstein slams Obama CIA head pick  —  (CNN) — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Senate's incoming Intelligence committee chair, slammed President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Leon Panetta as director of the CIA Monday.  —  “I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director.

Obama's impressive new OLC chief  —  The Office of Legal Counsel, inside the Justice Department, is probably the most consequential federal government office that remains relatively obscure.  The legal opinions which it issues become, more or less automatically, the official legal position of the Executive Branch.

Not Even the Clintons Would Have Tried This  —  President-elect Obama has made his first completely incomprehensible appointment: Leon Panetta for CIA Director.  No, I'm serious.  Clinton OMB Director and Chief of Staff to head a key intelligence agency.  One can refer to him as an …

Panetta On Torture  —  Here's Central Intelligence Agency director-designate Leon E. Panetta, writing about torture, in the Washington Monthly.  Actually, no — he's writing in the Washington Monthly about torture:

Panetta, Blair land top intel posts  —  President-elect Barack Obama is naming Leon Panetta, a former congressman from California and chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, to be CIA director.  Obama also has picked retired Navy Admiral Dennis Blair to be director of national intelligence …

Reid: Coleman will “never ever serve”  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered the toughest language he has ever used in arguing that Norm Coleman's career in the Senate is finished.  —  “Norm Coleman will never ever serve [again] in the Senate,” Reid told Politico's Manu Raju.  “He lost the election.

Senate recount: Franken's on top; Coleman to sue  —  The state Canvassing Board certified final results this afternoon in Minnesota's marathon U.S. Senate race, but that won't end the battle between Democrat Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman, whose Senate term ended on Saturday.

Coulter's ‘Today’ show interview canceled  —  Ann Coulter was scheduled to appear on the “Today” show Tuesday morning to promote her new book, “Guilty.”  But it's now been canceled, according to her website.  —  Coulter wrote: “TODAY SHOW AND TODAY SHOW FOURTH HOUR: CANCELLED!”

Drudge: Coulter “Banned” From NBC; NBC Denies It  —  Drudge Report says Ann Coulter has been “banned for life” from NBC, quoting an anonymous NBC source saying, “We are just not going to have her on any more.”  —  Late today, NBC News denied the story with this statement …