White House Legal Adviser Avril Haines will replace CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell, who will retire in August, according to Reuters:
Morell stood in as head of the CIA following the sudden resignation as director last year of David Petraeus over an affair with his biographer.
Morell had been floated as a possible successor before Obama chose his top White House counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, himself a long-time CIA veteran, to be the agency’s new director.
Obama had nominated Haines in April as the State Department’s legal adviser. But when Morell decided to retire, Haines became the top candidate to replace him, a White House official said, noting that her nomination for the State Department job would be withdrawn
Morell was responsible for changing the administration’s talking points on the Benghazi attack last year, which drew heat from many conservatives. He claims he is retiring to be with his family and denies that his involvement on Benghazi is the “real reason.”
