Former California Congressman Leon Panetta was President-elect Barack Obama’s surprise choice Monday to head the CIA. Panetta, a Democrat, has little background in national security issues.

   He left Capitol Hill in 1993 after 16 years to join the Clinton administration where he ran the Office of Management and Budget and also served as White House chief of staff.

   But someone who can make the trains run on time is one of the things the CIA needs right now, according to Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee during President Bush’s first term.

   "This is an important appointment at a critical time in our nation’s history," Roberts said. "I have had a longtime personal and professional relationship with Leon Panetta dating back to our service together in the House. He has wide and diverse experience in government that will serve him well as director of the CIA."

     Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, currently the Intel committee's vice chairman, said he believed that experience with intelligence issues "would seem to be a prerequisite." 

    “While I will reserve final judgment on President-elect Obama’s nomination for the leader of our terror-fighting agency, I will be looking hard at Panetta’s intelligence expertise and qualifications,” Bond said.