With the potential exit on the cards for Timothy Geithner until the issue of raising the national debt ceiling being resolved, it seems as if Obama understands these changes, and in doing so, has quite separately appointed a new counterterrorism chief, Matthew Olsen.
Formerly playing the role of a prosecutor for several years now when it comes to matters of intelligence for the government, Olsen will lead the National Counterterrorism Center that is responsible for the analysis of intelligence information which is assessed and handed over the senior policymakers and the President.
Some of Olsen’s past roles have been overseeing intelligence matters with the FBI and the Justice Department while he also serves as general counsel for the National Security Agency. Only recently, Olsen was in charge of reviewing the intelligence data collected from prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
Olsen replaces Michael Leiter, who has served as the agency’s director under both George Bush and President Obama, and is leaving on a high, thanks to the highly successful covert operation in Pakistan to kill Al-Qaeda’s number one man, Osama Bin Laden.
According to Leiter, Olsen is the man for the job due to his background and extensive experience with some of the nation’s toughest security issues in the last decade, and in accepting the job of the Director will report directly to the President as well as the Director of national intelligence.
The former homeland security secretary who worked under Bush (and with Olsen in the past), considers him to be “a smart and dedicated public servant who would capably carry on the outstanding work of Michael Leiter if confirmed by the Senate.”
