President Obama's expected announcement on Thursday that CIA Direcor Leon Panetta will replace departing Defense Secretary Robert Gates and that Gen. David Petraeus will take over as CIA chief is the latest evidence of the blurring of lines between soldiers and spies in secret U.S. missions overseas, The New York Times says.
Panetta has accelerated the transformation of the spy agency into a paramilitary organization, and Petraeus has used Special Operations troops and private security contractors to spy.
The nomination of Petraeus has some CIA veterans "grumbling" about a career military officer taking charge of an agency with a long tradition of civilian leadership, The Washington Post reports.
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