The NFL labor dispute may keep him off the field this fall, but Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis is making another high-profile appearance: on the “Madden NFL 12″ cover.

President Barack Obama will name CIA Director Leon Panetta as his nominee to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary, a U.S. official said Wednesday.President Barack Obama will name CIA Director Leon Panetta as his nominee to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

For hours on March 21, U.S. Air Force Maj. Kenneth Harney of Lexington, Kentucky, and Capt. Tyler Stark of Littleton, Colorado, were the focus of nearly every U.S. service member in the Mediterranean Sea region. Nearly a dozen aircraft, a platoon of Marines and even Libyan civilians worked to rescue Harney and Stark after their F-15 crashed in eastern Libya.

A chunk of a Pentagon wall smashed by a plane hijacked by 9/11 terrorists was presented to the FBI’s Washington field office Wednesday in recognition of its assistance.

Analysts and sources say a combination of experience working with the CIA in the field and political considerations are behind President Barack Obama’s expected nomination of Gen. David Petraeus to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency.