CIA Director Leon Panetta wrote in a memo to agency employees Monday that the allegations in the report are 'in many ways an old story.' He said past Justice Department probes of the material were exhaustive.

CIA and Justice Department lawyers met prior to the decision, and Mr. Panetta spoke with Mr. Holder Monday, said one official familiar with the matter.

Mr. Durham, a career federal prosecutor in Connecticut since 1982, is highly regarded in the Justice Department. In 1999, Clinton administration Attorney General Janet Reno appointed him to lead a special team that investigated alleged criminal misconduct by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and other law-enforcement corruption in Boston.

Even before the announcement of the new inquiry, the White House sought to distance itself from the politically fraught decision. 'The president thinks that Eric Holder, who he appointed as a very independent attorney general, should make those decisions,' said White House spokesman Bill Burton.

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