Mike McConnell’s abrupt travel plans are hereby excused. The Senate has confirmed his fellow retired Navy admiral, Dennis Blair, by voice vote as the third director of national intelligence. (Well, fourth, technically. McConnell’s odd decision Tuesday to quit meant that his deputy, Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, was director for a day. If some congressionally-created commission determines that the next 9/11 came to pass because of some critical error on Jan. 28, 2009, now you know who to blame.)

Crossposted to The Streak. Also, quick note: I’m on my way to New York, where I’ll be for a few days. On the ungodly-early train I ran into M.J. Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum, and we had a great conversation that had the effect of keeping me away from this blog until the previous post. I’ll be running around until the afternoon, so where I’m going with all of this is that posting may be a little light today.