[IP] Goss out
Begin forwarded message:
From: kelley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: May 5, 2006 3:45:32 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Goss out
Hi Dave,
This is interesting news. Porter Goss is stepping down as Director of
the CIA. As the article says further below, and which probably
surprises no one familiar with the topic, the agency is in disarray.
Best,
Kelley
Porter Goss Announces Plans To Step Down as CIA Director
Associated Press
May 5, 2006 2:26 p.m.
Central Intelligence Agency Director Porter Goss resigned
unexpectedly Friday, leaving behind a spy agency still battling to
recover from the scars of intelligence failures before America's
worst terrorist attack and faulty information that formed the U.S.
rationale for invading Iraq.
It was the latest move in a second-term shake-up of President Bush's
team.
Making the announcement from the Oval Office, Mr. Bush called Mr.
Goss's tenure one of transition. "He has led ably," Mr. Bush said,
with Mr. Goss at his side. "He has a five-year plan to increase the
analysts and operatives." Mr. Goss said, "I believe the agency is on
a very even keel, sailing well," adding: "I honestly believe that we
have improved dramatically."
The president didn't name a successor, but said that person would
continue Mr. Goss's reforms. "We've got to win the war on terror, and
the Central Intelligence Agency is a vital part of the war. So I
thank you for your service," said Mr. Bush.
When Mr. Bush nominated Goss in August 2004, in the midst of the
president's re-election campaign, he said he would rely on the advice
of the CIA officer-turned-politician on the sensitive issue of
intelligence reform.
Mr. Goss, a former congressman from Florida, head of the House
Intelligence Committee and CIA agent, had been at the helm of the
agency only since September 2004. He came under fire almost
immediately, in part because he brought with him several top aides
from Congress who were considered highly political for the CIA.
'Free Fall'?
He had particularly poor relations with segments of the agency's
powerful clandestine service. In a bleak assessment, California Rep.
Jane Harman, the Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, recently
said, "The CIA is in a free fall," noting that employees with a
combined 300 years of experience have left or been pushed out.
Under Mr. Goss and the sweeping intelligence overhaul Congress
approved in December 2004, the CIA lost considerable clout among U.S.
spy agencies. With the installation of the country's first national
intelligence director, John Negroponte, Mr. Goss no longer sat atop
the 16 intelligence agencies. Negroponte took that role -- and many
of the CIA director's responsibilities. That includes Mr. Bush's
morning intelligence briefings.
Mr. Goss also had some public blunders. In March 2005, just before
Mr. Negroponte took over, Mr. Goss told an audience at the Ronald
Reagan Presidential Library that he was overwhelmed by the many
duties of his job, including devoting five hours out of every day to
prepare for and deliver the presential briefings. "The jobs I'm being
asked to do, the five hats that I wear, are too much for this
mortal," Mr. Goss said. "I'm a little amazed at the workload."
Plugging Leaks
Mr. Goss has pressed for aggressive probes about leaked information.
"The damage has been very severe to our capabilities to carry out our
mission," he told Congress in February, adding that a federal grand
jury should be impaneled to determine "who is leaking this information."
Just two weeks ago, Mr. Goss announced the firing of a top
intelligence analyst in connection with a Pulitzer Prize-winning
story about a network of CIA prisons in Eastern Europe. Such
dismissals are highly unusual.
The realignment of Mr. Bush's team amid the president's sagging poll
standings started with the resignation of Andrew Card as chief of
staff and his replacement by Joshua Bolten, who had been the budget
director. There has been rampant speculation that Treasury Secretary
John Snow would be leaving.
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