Brennan

There is no question that John Brennan, who seems to have the inside track to be named CIA Director or even DNI, was a strong supporter of the new FISA legislation including telecom immunity. Brennan also appears to have some reasonable views on engaging Iran. What do you want to bet that the former will be cited as proof of his qualifications for the job and the latter will be used in the campaign to try to derail his confirmation?

More troubling is the evidence that suggests he seems to have had at best a very, er, flexible definition of what passes for torture in the past. Saying “the dark side has its limits” is a bit like saying, “Well, the ends don’t always justify the means.” However, there is some small reassurance to be found in this short profile of Brennan in yesterday’s NYT:

As a senior adviser to Mr. Tenet in 2002, Mr. Brennan was present at the creation of the C.I.A.’s controversial detention and interrogation program, which Mr. Obama has strongly criticized. But Mr. Brennan has distanced himself from the program, and told The Washington Times last month that interrogation methods like waterboarding are “not going to be allowed under an Obama presidency.”