Jane Harman not Obama's top pick for Director of National Intelligence?

Newsweek is out with a report that South Bay Rep. Jane Harman is interested in becoming Director of National Intelligence, where she would have authority over 16 different intelligence agencies, including the CIA. (I wrote a round-up of this speculation over the weekend.)

The report adds a new wrinkle: supposedly President-elect Barack Obama is not wild about appointing a legislator to that position.

Some prominent politicians who have handled intelligence issues--including Rep Jane Harman, a former top House Intelligence Committee Democrat; former Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Bob Graham; and former 9/11 Commission member Tim Roemer--have expressed interest in the job, according to people following the Obama transition. The same sources said, however, that Obama is believed to be more interested in finding a new intel czar with extensive management or military command experience--and that an ideal candidate for the post would be a former admiral or general with more field-command experience. One person frequently mentioned as the type of person Obama would want as his intel czar is former four-star Marine general James Jones, who served as Supreme Commander of U.S. forces in Europe.

OK, well that still leaves CIA director, right? Well, Newsweek puts John Brennan, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and Anthony Lake, former National Security Adviser, on its list of potential candidates for that job -- but not Harman. She may yet be the South Bay's congresswoman for years to come.

But wait: the report does not discuss another position for which Harman has been mentioned: Secretary of Homeland Security. UPDATE: Harman is mentioned in a separate post about candidates for DHS, along with LAPD Chief William Bratton.

An aside: two of these three positions did not exist during the last presidential transition.

UPDATE #2: Harman is also quoted in today's Wall Street Journal praising the Obama transition team:

"He's surrounded himself with excellent people -- an excellent bipartisan group."

Flattery will get you everywhere.