Could Pentagon intel czar Michael Vickers be the next CIA director? One expert says Vickers likely is on the shortlist. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Guessing whom a president will pick for top executive branch jobs is Washington’s favorite parlor game. It’s cliche, but true.

And recently re-elected President Barack Obama soon will have to fill a slew of Cabinet and other high-level slots, including CIA director. For about a week the nation obsessed over the extramarital affair that brought down former top spy David Petraeus, the decorated former Army four-star general.

Eli Sugarman, a fellow with the Truman National Security Project, has penned a piece that sums up the conventional wisdom about who’s on the CIA director short list. Sugarman’s betting the job will go to one of four longtime Washington veterans: Michael Morrell, the acting CIA director who was Petraeus’ deputy; John Brennan, the White House’s deputy national security advisor for homeland security and counterterrorism; Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers; and former House Intelligence Committee member Jane Harman, D-Calif.

After the jump is a quick summary of what makes each a valid candidate, according to Sugarman. More