>This news story took me completely by surprise.
>
>http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/27/defense.panetta/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1
>
>President Barack Obama plans to announce Thursday he is nominating Leon Panetta as defense secretary, Gen. David Petraeus to head the CIA and Ryan Crocker as the new U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan in what will be the most extensive re-shaping of the Obama national security team to date, sources tell CNN.
>
>Lt. Gen John Allen also will be nominated to replace Petraeus as the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official says.
>
>I know you are no Panetta fan so are probably delighted by the change at the CIA. Secretary of Defense, though? That strikes me as bizarre. It would have made more sense to give Petraeus that job, don't you think? Maybe the idea is that it should be held by a civilian, not a military guy.

It's the law:

Title 10. Sec. 113. Secretary of Defense

(a) There is a Secretary of Defense, who is the head of the
Department of Defense, appointed from civilian life by the President, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate. A person may not be
appointed as Secretary of Defense within 10 years after relief from
active duty as a commissioned officer of a regular component of an armed
force.