The C.I.A. Versus Bush

NY Times ^ | Nov. 13, 2004 | DAVID BROOKS

[FairOpinion]

" Time to clean up both the CIA and State."

I couldn't agree with you more.

[AdmSmith]

It might be related to the management style of Patrick Murray.

[kenth]

Then, when they're done there, send them over to State.

[IndianPrincessOK]

"You have sat here too long for the good you do. In the name of God, go!"

Bush senior was in charge of the CIA at one time....many good, decent agents but it is obvious from the top brass down this group has a terminal case of "cancer" and long overdue to rid the bad seeds...if it starts with most going, so be it...I am concerned at what damage has been done already...but it's never too late...if they were wise....they would start packing...Bush has nothing to lose and all to gain!!!

[rushmom]

You make your case privately, not in a politically damaging way to the President. Those people politicized the CIA; they should be fired.

[jim macomber]

And Acting Director McLaughlin just announced his resignation "for personal reasons".

[JasonC]

"people in the C.I.A. need to be reminded..."

No, they need to be fired, in wholesale lots. We can get much better people. They have performed just abysmally over the past decade, have undergone regulatory capture, in effect. We need a systematic purge and new faces, not lectures to the existing useful idiots.

[shield]

There's going to be a house cleaning. 60-80 CIA folks are to be fired this month. Upon the removal of these creeps, the CIA will once again be pro-American. Thanks CIA Director.

[Poodlebrain]

I dislike the term "payback". I prefer a ruthless application of national security laws as well as enforcement of employment agreements. Anyone found violating laws or nondisclosure agreements should be punished as severely as possible.

Where no violations have occurred, but the CIA employees have engaged in activities contrary to political goals, security clearances can be revoked. Security clearances are not personal property, nor does anyone have rights to such clearances. They can be taken away from individuals just as arbitrarily and capriciously as they can be issued. Since appropriate security clearances are requirements for certain positions with the CIA removing the occupants' security clearance effectively removes them from their positions.

[JasonC]

It is the treason, stupid. They are trying to justify their past decisions, all the times they coddled Saddam.

[Snapple]

The recently appointed head of the Directorate of Operations (spy side of the CIA)Stephen Kappes turned in his resignation because he didn't want to be bossed around by a guy Goss brought in to help him, Patrick Murray. Murray may have overplayed his hand.

Kappes is a person who can recruit agents. He is a professional who came into the CIA from the Marines. He speaks Russian and Farsi. He ran a Russian intelligence officer, a linguist, who spoke an African language. He probably also recruited others, but this guy was finally caught by the Russians so we know about it.

The White House asked Kappes not to resign.

I predict that Goss will have to put a leash in his underling Patrick Murray. Murray didn't do too well when he worked at the CIA and is now back trying to lord it over others because of his patron.

[SBOinTX]

Bush is a strong leader. It won't be easy, but if anyone can bring them around, it is him.

[Reo]

"I think a shake up in the CIA is long overdue. "

Absolutely dead-on, FairOp.

When pressed to admit mistakes in the 3rd debate, Pres. Bush mentioned the appointment of some unnamed persons to government posts. While most thought of O'Neill at Treasury or Bremer's short-term predecessor in Iraq (so short I can't even remember his name!), the retention of Tenet also springs to mind. Via leaks to the Washington Post, CIA elements have acted as a loose-cannon 5th column against our sitting President. Another example can be found in the Drudge link to the WaPo this morning to yet another article demeaning Porter Goss. Goss has the toughest job in Washington right now......fighting an entrenched bureaucracy extremely hostile to change in an organization where poor results scream out for change. This is going to be a huge fight with high stakes. Brooks is so right in this article, and I hope he and others stay on top of it.

[G Larry]

Seems they didn't dig far enough to root out Aldridge Ames sympathizers.

[FairOpinion]

Your example of Kappes is what concerns me, that Murray may be alienating the good guys, and they will leave, and the rotten apples, who should be fired are the ones, who will just lay low and survive.

[finnigan2]

"What I don't know is whether Goss is cleaning out those guys, who need to go, or whether useful agents feel slighted and are leaving."

- Goss is cleaning them out. There is a headline today at lucianne.com which screams that morale at the CIA is at rock bottom due to Goss's incompetent house cleaning efforts - aided of course by some no-nothing brought over from the White House to assist. Obviously, Bush has given Goss the green light to do whatever it takes to surgically remove the puss filled parts of the CIA body and they are scrambling to their MSM contacts for protection.
Bush was wise to appoint Goss, a career CIA staff member, to head the Agency. Knowing that he wanted the place fumigated, Bush appointed a guy from inside, who knew what had to be done and wouldn't have to waste time becoming familiar with where the axe had to be wielded.

[TalBlack]

"If we lived in a primitive age, the ground at Langley would be laid waste and salted, and there would be heads on spikes."
".....It is time to reassert some harsh authority so C.I.A......"

Live long enough in a "non-primitive" age and people forget what is behind respect for authority and the rules that govern us all.

It is good if all people remember and respect, but if they don't it is NECCESSARY to have a few "heads on spikes".

I don't expect anything to be done about this because ANOTHER result of living in a "non-primitive" age is forgetting how (or even why) to crack the whip.

[Pylot]

Porter Goss served on the Intelligence Committee.

He knows where the stinkers are in the CIA.

He has his minions in there kicking their buts and encouraging them to leave.

The troublemakers are a bunch of Clintonista plants and they need to be purged.

[EDINVA]

Brookes is the NYT's token conservative .. take a deep breath.

[Buckeye Battle Cry]

Amen. Start with that back-stabber Richard Armitage and go down his chain of command cleaning house.

They believe themselves to be the true leaders of American Foreign Policy and when they have a President with whom they disagree (read: Republican) they hunker down and wait them out all the while feeding storys to the NYT and WaPo.

I do not trust Armitage one bit.