Leon Panetta a former eight-term congressman from California has been a former chairman of the House Budget Committee, budget director and Clinton White House chief of staff and recently member of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group was the choice that President-elect Barack Obama made for Director of Central Intelligence Agency , according to media reports Monday.

It is true that he doesn't have an intelligence background. But he certainly dealt with intelligence. In the Iraq Study Group, we dealt with it everyday. He certainly dealt with it as chief of staff, said Democrat Lee Hamilton, former chairman of the House International Relations Committee and chairman of the Iraq Study Group.

Not everyone is convinced that Obama has made the right choice.

I know nothing about this other than what I read. My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time, fellow Californian Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in a statement.