At the C.I.A., Petraeus Will Face a Different Culture - NYTimes.com: "Gen. David H. Petraeus will be taking on familiar challenges when he arrives at the Central Intelligence Agency this summer: the terrorist threat from Yemen and Pakistan; the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan; the Arab uprisings and their uncertain outcomes.
Those are among the C.I.A.’s major preoccupations, and they are what General Petraeus has lived and breathed in his last three jobs, first as commander in Iraq, then overseeing all of the Middle East and South Asia as head of Central Command, and finally as commander in Afghanistan. He knows military, intelligence and political leaders across the swath of the world that most worries the Obama administration. He has long been a voracious consumer of C.I.A. intelligence.
But in the four decades since he entered West Point, General Petraeus, 58, has thrived in the singular world of the American military. At the civilian intelligence agency, the four-star general will find a far less deferential culture, a traditional resentment of the Pentagon and a history of making trouble for directors who do not pay sufficient respect to local folkways.
“One thing he’ll find is C.I.A. doesn’t do the hierarchy thing very well at all,” said Michael V. Hayden, C.I.A. director from 2006 to 2009. “That’ll be a bit of an adjustment.”
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