[bert]

.....Porter's tenure at the CIA was one of transition.....

I believe this is the crux of the matter. He was never intended to remain forever. His job was to upset the applecart so the real head would not have all that baggage when he took over.

[misterrob]

Read the article:

1) Goss signed on for a different job than what it morphed into. He was a stand up guy who left an elected position to step into a role that he believed in.

2) He actually believed in the value of the CIA. Yes, he was trying to clean the place up but was also willing to fight for it. Negroponte wants to reduce its role and Goss wasn't pleased with the direction things were going.

3) Goss ruffled a lot of feathers and some of those feathers appeared to belong to powerful people. That stymied his effectiveness and likely increased friction with the WH

I am not certain how the Cunningham scandal plays into this at all. What I do think is that the CIA is a huge mess, Bush inherited a huge problem and Goss stepped into an untenable situation.