LIBERALS RAVE AS HARMAN DENIED KEY SECURITY POST.

Byline: LISA FRIEDMAN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Liberals cheered the announcement Friday that Los Angeles Democrat Rep. Jane Harman will not lead the House Intelligence Committee next year, while military analysts called the decision a loss for national security.

``I think Harman would have been one of the worst choices for this position,'' said author and popular liberal commentator Glenn Greenwald. ``It's very refreshing to see Pelosi choose someone who will take oversight seriously.''

But Dan Goure, a national security expert with the Lexington Institute think tank, described Harman as a well-respected expert on intelligence matters and called her removal a mistake.

``I think that it is a mistake for Democrats newly in power after a decade of being in the wilderness to not go with their strongest team, and that was Jane Harman,'' Goure said.

Security experts credit Harman with creating the position of a national intelligence director -- calling for the creation of the post several months before the 9/11 Commission recommended it.

She also was an early voice for a comprehensive assessment of intelligence on Iraq.

``She's very plugged into the professionals and the agencies,'' Denis McDonough, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress liberal think tank in D.C.

Harman, for her part, issued a statement Friday congratulating Reyes and vowing to help make his transition a smooth one.

``I leave this position with incredible respect for the women and men of the intelligence community,'' Harman said. ``I pledge to them that I will continue to look after their interests and the interests of the intelligence industrial base that is largely centered in my congressional district in California.''

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com

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