Brennan said he would work to improve the CIA's intelligence collection and performance across the Arab world after a spate of unanticipated unrest, from the revolts of the Arab Spring to the terror attack that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya.
But there are also countervailing pressures as well, not least from Saudi Arabia which seems intent on mounting a counter-attack against any shoots of the Arab spring erupting in its neighbourhood.
Last spring the Auckland, New Zealand, mom reportedly suffered a minor heart attack after she lost 100 pounds on a diet of Red Bull and the occasional fistful of dry cereal.