| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: WoT |
| Bush has ordered Goss to purge CIA |
| 2004-11-14 |
| The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources. "The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda." One of the first casualties appears to be Stephen R. Kappes, deputy director of clandestine services, the CIA's most powerful division. The Washington Post reported yesterday that Kappes had tendered his resignation after a confrontation with Goss' chief of staff, Patrick Murray, but at the behest of the White House had agreed to delay his decision till tomorrow. But the former senior CIA official said that the White House "doesn't want Steve Kappes to reconsider his resignation. That might be the spin they put on it, but they want him out." He said the job had already been offered to the former chief of the European Division who retired after a spat with then-CIA Director George Tenet. Another recently retired top CIA official said he was unsure Kappes had "officially resigned, but I do know he was unhappy." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #13 Wouthout a strong hand on the tiller (bascially since 92), the ops side of the house will devolve into empire building and over-cautiousness (in that political environment) because instead of seeking to execute the mission, they sought to pass the blame and get the budget. Its about time some one knocked some heads in Langley. And those guys know who to come to to rebuild the place, just like the guys rebuilding in the early 80's knew where to go to - reach back to the previous generation who won thier war and "got the job done". |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-11-14 4:37:15 AM |
| #12 Wouthout a strong hand on the tiller (bascially since 92), the ops side of the house will devolve into empire building and over-cautiousness (in that political environment) because instead of seeking to execute the mission, they sought to pass the blame and get the budget. Its about time some one knocked some heads in Langley. And those guys know who to come to to rebuild the place, just like the guys rebuilding in the early 80's knew where to go to - reach back to the previous generation who won thier war and "got the job done". |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-11-14 4:37:15 AM |
| #11 "The CIA is simply not going to develop the assets [agents and case officers] that would meet the intelligence requirements." Well OF COURSE they won't, so long as they keep recruiting ivy league white boys. Has anyone at Langley ever considered the fact that this country has millions of dark-skinned citizens who, um, actually speak the languages of the region and know the region intimately? What exactly is in the heads of the jokers running the CIA? Why did we not start recruiting hundreds of brilliant young asian-americans decades ago? |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-14 2:06:39 PM |
| #10 Raze it to the ground. Start over. And this time around, recruit hundreds of talented young asian-americans who speak pashto, farsi, mandarin etc. Enough of the Leverett "Buzzy" Saltonstall mediocrities. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-14 2:02:58 PM |
| #9 If George W. Bush really wanted to kick ass and take names at the CIA, he should appoint George H. W. Bush to the top job. As for the political fallout, well, his name is already on the building. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-11-14 1:47:20 PM |
| #8 "Goss is not a believer in liaison work," said this retired official. But, he said, the CIA’s "best intelligence really comes from liaison work. The CIA is simply not going to develop the assets [agents and case officers] that would meet the intelligence requirements." Perhaps Goss understands that "liaison work" means the information you get is the information the other country WANTS YOU TO GET, and would rather have some way to get the information independently. Not that we should stop working with other countries, but perhaps the "old-hands" at the CIA should reconsider the trustworthiness of information coming from Syria at a time when so many Syrians are shooting at Americans. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-11-14 9:03:59 AM |
| #7 Tony, this is Newsday; and these are unnamed "sources". I think you can safely assume that "disloyal", as used in this article, is a politically loaded euphemism for "obstructed the implementation of national policy as ordered by the President". |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-11-14 7:39:03 AM |
| #6 This needs to be done and fast. The CIA is not the agency it once was. Ever since the fall of the Soviet bloc they have sliped farther into PC bureaucracy with more groupthink than analysis. I bet none of those 'agents' warned that Saddam would transfer WMDs to another nation or that Al Quaida was a growing threat. Heck they missed the fall of Communism and that was 80% of their manpower effort! If this were a company it would hav folded decades ago. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-11-14 7:29:28 AM |
| #5 Ok, leaking damaging information - that I can understand, and that should be totally hammered out of the agency, but being disloyal to President Bush? I mean, being disloyal to the office of the President should also be a hanging offence - but it does seem that this release is focussing more on the 'personality' of the President, and not the 'office'. Am I missing the point here? |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2004-11-14 4:54:08 AM |
| #4 Wouthout a strong hand on the tiller (bascially since 92), the ops side of the house will devolve into empire building and over-cautiousness (in that political environment) because instead of seeking to execute the mission, they sought to pass the blame and get the budget. Its about time some one knocked some heads in Langley. And those guys know who to come to to rebuild the place, just like the guys rebuilding in the early 80's knew where to go to - reach back to the previous generation who won thier war and "got the job done". |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-11-14 4:37:15 AM |
| #3 A quote from another news-source "The bill warned that without changes, the clandestine unit - the agency's most famous division - could become a "stilted bureaucracy incapable of even the slightest bit of success." could explain why this Augean stable needs needs an urgent muck-out. |
| Posted by: tipper 2004-11-14 3:23:38 AM |
| #2 DPA, let's hope it is true. If the CIA can't be reformed with a purge then it should be destroyed. |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2004-11-14 2:07:07 AM |
| #1 Wow... I wonder if this has any truth to it. |
| Posted by: Damn_Proud_American 2004-11-14 1:00:31 AM |