Blair Takes the Fall

The Obama administration has had its first high profile casualty with the forced resignation of Dennis Blair.

Dennis Blair, President Barack Obama's national intelligence director, is resigning after a 16-month tenure marked by intelligence failures and turf wars among the country's spy agencies.

Blair, a retired admiral, is the third director of national intelligence, a position created in response public outrage over the failure to prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Blair intends to offer his resignation Friday, one of two government officials said, adding that several candidates have been interviewed for the job. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made.

With two successful and two unsuccessful domestic attacks since Obama took over, intelligence became an issue. A recent Congressional report on the failed Christmas Day bombing pointed out that many intelligence gaps continue to exist that contributed to 9/11. Blair has taken the fall, though this story is far from over.