The Chairman of the National Intelligence Council has been selected by Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence. He will be Christopher Kojm, a professor who teaches courses on US foreign policy at George Washington University.   

He brings experience in government service to the position, as well as a load of baggage that I first outlined when rumors surfaced that he was in line to take the position after Charles Freeman was compelled to abandon his efforts to assume the post in the wake of controversy surrounding his past.

The National Intelligence Council is a key player in formulating strategic thinking that guides the President. The council, among a range of other activities, synthesizes the work of nineteen different intelligence agencies and composes the National intelligence Estimate that purports to be the refined wisdom of these various intelligence agencies.

In the wrong hands, the report can be manipulated for partisan purposes, as was alleged to have occurred with its 2007 report on the Iranian nuclear program. Does Kojm have clean hands? Once again, one can have grounds to doubt Dennis Blair's wisdom and objectivity.

Please see my May 17^th column "New NIC chief tapped."