(sounds like a Plame Game screen writers convention).
Those the entire piece is tripe and crap and a attempt to throw the "scent" elsewhere, I found these excerpts especially amusing.
"Porter J. Goss was forced to step down yesterday as CIA director, ending a turbulent 18-month tenure marked by an exodus of some of the agency's top talent and growing White House dissatisfaction with his leadership during a time of war.
The likely successor to Goss is Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the former director of the National Security Agency and now deputy to Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, senior administration officials said. He could be named as soon as Monday.
Seated next to President Bush in the Oval Office, Goss, a Republican congressman from Florida before he took over the CIA, said he was "stepping aside" but gave no reason for the departure. Bush, who did not name a successor, said he had accepted the resignation and thanked Goss for his service.
"Porter's tenure at the CIA was one of transition, where he's helped this agency become integrated into . . . the intelligence community," Bush said. "That was a tough job, and he's led ably." Bush said he had developed a "very close personal relationship" with Goss, who succeeded George J. Tenet in September 2004.
But senior administration officials said Bush had lost confidence in Goss, 67, almost from the beginning and decided months ago to replace him. In what was described as a difficult meeting in April with Negroponte, Goss was told to prepare to leave by May, according to several officials with knowledge of the conversation."
Forget the "forced". Again, the President of the United States isn't going to appear in a photo op with someone who is being forced to resigned. The reason, again, "An 18-month tenure marked by an exodus of some of the agency's top talent". Further down in the article: "Over Goss's 18 months, more than a dozen senior officials -- several of whom were promoted under Goss -- resigned, retired early or requested reassignment. Robert Richer, who was head of the Near East division, served less than a year as the No. 2 official in the clandestine service before quitting in frustration over Goss's leadership last November. Richer then spent several days privately sharing his concerns with senior congressional leaders and Negroponte.
In the clandestine service alone, Goss lost one director, two deputy directors and at least a dozen department heads, station chiefs and division directors, many with the key language skills and experience he has said the agency needs. The agency is on its third counterterrorism chief since Goss arrived."
Yeah....top leakers and malcontents, all of Priest's and Pincus's best sources. Dana Priest can't resist her own byline in a followup story. Spy master "1" actually starts off with the truth.
"Porter J. Goss was brought into the CIA to quell what the White House viewed as a partisan insurgency against the administration and to re-energize a spy service that failed to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks or accurately assess Iraq's weapons capability.
In otherwords - he cleaned house. All the rest of her article is crap. Yeah "mass exodus" of worms, dust-mites, cockroaches and all the other stuff a good broom catches in it's wake. Goss didn't come in to be a "uniter", or necessarily a "divider" but specifically to be a "Fox among the chickens" and "stir things up".
He did. Under his tenure things did get stired up and the rogues who saw the light at the end of the tunnel and realized it was the "Goss Express" did what rats do. They vacate. But his stirring up did get a major result accomplished.
Point of clarity that will be coming out in the days and weeks to come, Mary (Loose Lips) McCarthy wasn't just "a" leaker - she was in fact the Queen Bee leaker from which all the little worker bees delivered their 'honey'.
So do you get it now? Goss killed the Queen - mission accompished. By the way, while Priest laments on an "agency in turmoil", I actually hear that far more in the agency are happy that Goss came to town and killed off the hive.
"I liked his leadership. .....The tired lifers that couldn't keep their puss off a phone receiver to the media.....we're a intelligence agency, not the Democratic National Committee...."
All this mudslinging on Goss is to be expected. He will be dragged through the mud and made to look like a thug and a malcontent and it's "good riddance". But again more of the real thugs and malcontents cannot contain themselves from taking a swipe:
"Regrettably, Porter Goss's tenure as director of the CIA was a tumultuous one," said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), senior Democrat on the intelligence panel. "We must have a leader with strong credentials, a demonstrated track record of independence and objectivity, and the ability to bring much needed harmony within the ranks."
Yeah one that preferably will stop working with the DOJ to give you a new home buddy.
To that point you are going to be sorely disappointed.
But what now? Well back to the WAPO it's General Mike Hayden, the Deputy to Negroponte, and Fox is well according to confirmingthat as well.
"The leading candidate to replace him is Air Force General Michael Hayden, top deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, said a senior administration official. An announcement could come as early as Monday.
Hayden was National Security Agency director until becoming the nation's No. 2 intelligence official a year ago. Since December, he has aggressively defended the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program. He was one of its chief architects."
Of course the article states this selection should be fun:
"With a Hayden nomination, Democrats would be sure to seize on his intimate connection to Bush's anti-terrorist surveillance program, which has drawn the ire of even some Republicans."
"Hayden was National Security Agency director until becoming the nation's No. 2 intelligence official a year ago. Since December, he has aggressively defended the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program. He was one of its chief archite".
"ire of even some Republicans:
Yeah like Senator Chuck Hagel, Senator Arlen Spector, and the rest of the RINOS.
But in reality what could this mean?
Again, I'm sticking to my guns that everything IC is coming under one rule - Negroponte's office. Again, part of Goss's transitioning of the agency - contrary to other opinions - was to "un-centralize" the Central Intelligence Agency. Need I repeat the mantra?
If Hayden is the man - then mission accomplished - the circle is complete.
Then it will be, in the words of the Fantastic Four's "Thing" ....."Hammering Time".
Bang of a Summer - I told you so
