"Tainted" at the CIA

Both the NYTimes and WaPo have major articles on the Obama administration seeking out a new DNI and head of the CIA. Both articles speak about the personnel and policy challenges brought about by the Bush administration's most egregious programs, rendition, torture, wiretapping......

BUT, what intrigues me is not that the two articles are so similar or appear on the same day, but that they both contain a form of the word "tainted."

NYTimes: "a message that “if you worked in the C.I.A. during the war on terror, you are now tainted,” and had created anxiety in the ranks of the agency’s clandestine service."

WaPo: "finding experienced leaders who understand the challenges facing the various U.S. intelligence agencies -- but who are untainted by the controversies and problems that have plagued the intelligence apparatus during the Bush era. "

That's not a word that comes out of nowhere, here. That word is being used with commonality somewhere, either in the Obama transition or, more likely, within and around the intelligence community.

I just find it interesting.