CIA’s Brennan Picks New Spy Chief Passing Over a Woman

John Brennan, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, picked an undercover officer as the new head of the agency’s national clandestine service, passing over a woman who had been serving as the acting chief.

The new head of the clandestine service, which oversees covert operations and recruits foreign spies, is a man who has been a long-serving officer with “rich, substantive and operational experiences worldwide” during his almost 30-year CIA career, agency spokeswoman Maria Escalante said yesterday in an e-mail. This is the first time since 2007 that a serving officer rather than a retired spy has been named to the job, Escalante said.