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WASHINGTON -- When former CIA Director George Tenet said his farewells at a two-hour ceremony this summer, a deputy noted that 40 percent of the agency's staff had worked for just one chief. It was a symbol of Tenet's endurance, seven years on the job, the second longest tenure of a director. It also was a mark of agency's growth during a hiring spree that began in 1998 and accelerated after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. With Tenet's successor, former Rep. Porter Goss, in charge and making changes, one of the longer periods of leadership stability in the CIA's...

Two chiefs of overseas divisions at the CIA are leaving the spy agency, which has been in turmoil since new director Porter Goss took over, a federal official confirmed Wednesday. The chiefs of the Europe and Far East divisions – two critical regions of the world for the spy agency – are retiring, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The departing CIA officials' names were not released because they work undercover. The two officials were in the highest level of clandestine service, the directorate of operations, The New York Times reported on its Web site Wednesday...

ON FRIDAY, November 5, 2004, Patrick Murray had a blunt warning for a top career official in the CIA's clandestine service: No more leaks. Murray, who has a reputation as a no-nonsense manager, had come to the agency from Capitol Hill as a top aide to Porter Goss, the former chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence who took over as CIA director in late September. For months leading up to the election, elements within the CIA had leaked information damaging to the reelection prospects of George W. Bush. Some of the leaks were authorized, some were not. Michael...

Porter's HouseFrom the November 29, 2004 issue: CIA Director Porter Goss takes charge. by Stephen F. Hayes 11/29/2004, Volume 010, Issue 11 ON FRIDAY, November 5, 2004, Patrick Murray had a blunt warning for a top career official in the CIA's clandestine service: No more leaks. Murray, who has a reputation as a no-nonsense manager, had come to the agency from Capitol Hill as a top aide to Porter Goss, the former chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence who took over as CIA director in late September. For months leading up to the election, elements within the CIA...

An old CIA hand, still with the agency, recently told NewsMax to read an article by Stephen Hayes for the Weekly Standard. Story Continues Below This story, our friend said, explains what is going on at the CIA. The agency's new director, Porter Goss, has stirred up a hornets' nest - make that a vipers' nest - at the nation's chief intelligence agency. For starters he has dared to take steps to plug the flood of leaks gushing out of the company's headquarters in Langley, Va. We figured Goss must have been doing something good when the main recipients of...

WHEN a new CEO takes over a failing company, it's not at all uncommon to fire (or force out) a couple of senior people. After all, senior management is responsible for an organization's poor performance, so why keep the deadwood around? Sure, lopping off heads can be a risky strategy. But it certainly makes the rest of the employees stand up and take notice. And it sends a clear message: "Things are going to change. Get with the program — or get out." [snip]* Accountability: The CIA is responsible for some of this nation's most significant intelligence lapses —...

The CIA and its coterie of leak-recipient journalists have seriously damaged the public’s understanding of the terror dangers we face. Now that the public’s attention finally has turned to the threat of Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities, it is vital that everyone understand how a clever misdirection of focus has seriously understated the ability of the mullahs to produce atomic weapons. Since Porter Goss embarked on the much-needed shake-up of the CIA, we’ve been treated to agency leaks to the legacy media from the proverbial “unnamed sources” in an attempt to persuade the American people that Goss will single handedly render...

WASHINGTON -- A Democratic senator warned CIA director Porter Goss yesterday that his efforts to make major changes could have ''a significant and negative effect on the agency." In a letter to Goss, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of Calif., also said she feared the ''politicization of our intelligence services" because of an e-mail Goss sent this week to agency employees telling them to focus on serving the Bush administration. Goss took office in September and named some of his former congressional staff members to high-level positions at the agency. Several senior CIA officials have resigned in recent weeks, an apparent...

Posted November 16, 2004 An internal war at the CIA By Faye Bowers | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor WASHINGTON - A public war between a president and his intelligence arm is never good news. But with the war against the insurgency in Iraq at a critical juncture, and Osama bin Laden making his ominous presence known, it is perhaps the worst of times for the Bush administration and its spies to be at odds. Still, government officials and outside experts say, the long-simmering tensions between the White House and CIA are erupting into an unseemly period of...

JOSEPH PERKINS    THE UNION-TRIBUNEReining in the CIA November 19, 2004 My cousin spent more than two decades working for the CIA. I cannot recall even one occasion when he disclosed anything having to do with his work for the spy agency. That's because he took his secrecy oath seriously. Nowadays, the culture is quite different at Langley. If inquiring minds want to find out what's going on inside the CIA, they need only consult the front page of The Washington Post or The New York Times. They need only visit the bookstore. That's because the CIA has become politicized....

Democrat warns on CIA changes Senator criticizes Goss note to staff By Associated Press | November 19, 2004 WASHINGTON -- A Democratic senator warned CIA director Porter Goss yesterday that his efforts to make major changes could have ''a significant and negative effect on the agency." In a letter to Goss, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of Calif., also said she feared the ''politicization of our intelligence services" because of an e-mail Goss sent this week to agency employees telling them to focus on serving the Bush administration. Goss took office in September and named some of his former congressional staff...

CIA Director Porter J. Goss is moving ahead with a shake-up at the agency, aimed at changing an outdated and risk-averse spying bureaucracy, according to U.S. intelligence officials. "In the days and weeks ahead of us," Mr. Goss said in an internal message to CIA employees, "I will announce a series of changes — some involving procedures, organization, senior personnel, and areas of focus for our action." The memo on Monday stated that Mr. Goss was asked by President Bush to address the problems with U.S. intelligence that were revealed by the September 11 attacks and the failures related to...

WASHINGTON - A Democratic senator warned CIA Director Porter Goss Thursday that his efforts to make major changes could have "a significant and negative effect on the agency." In a letter to Goss, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also said she feared the "politicization of our intelligence services" because of an e-mail Goss sent this week to agency employees telling them to serve the Bush administration. Goss, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, took office in September and named some of his former congressional staffers to high-level positions at the agency. Several senior CIA officials have resigned in recent weeks,...

WASHINGTON — In the wake of high-level departures in the CIA's clandestine service, intelligence officials are bracing for an even more aggressive overhaul of the agency's analytic ranks by Director Porter J. Goss. Current and former intelligence officials said Goss planned to replace the head of the CIA's analytic branch, Jami A. Miscik, with a veteran analyst who already runs one of the agency's major offices. Miscik heads the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence, the division that drew much of the blame for erroneous assessments of weapons programs in prewar Iraq. Goss also is said to be planning to replace other...

One night during the past campaign I made a speech at an annual county GOP meeting in Pennsylvania... There were a thousand people milling about, making quite a din. They were all standing and talking and eating chicken fingers from hors d'oeuvres tables dotted around the room. There were no chairs. Normally when I speak it's to people in chairs in a hall. I was introduced at a little podium and began to speak and the people in the back continued their racket. I made some jokes to get them laughing and draw them in to my remarks, but the...

After President Bush nominated him to be director of central intelligence, Rep. Porter Goss walked across the Capitol to meet with a senator he hardly knew and who had criticized him: John McCain. There he received advice confirming his determination to take a course that soon became the talk of Washington. McCain told Goss the Central Intelligence Agency is "a dysfunctional organization. It has to be cleaned out." That is, the CIA does not perform its missions. McCain told Goss that as DCI, he must get rid of the old boys and bring in a new team at Langley. Moreover,...

More backstabbing at the CIA as the new director Porter J. Goss seeks to shake up the ossified institution: The New York Times today in a page one story reports that a leaked memo from Goss to CIA employees tells them to "support the administration and its policies in our work." The Times and Bush administration critics expressed surprise that CIA employees were expected to follow and carry out the policies of the elected President. The Times suggested the memo could be "construed as urging analysts to conform with administration policies." But Goss emphatically stated in his memo: "As agency...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- CIA officials angrily insisted Wednesday that a memo from intelligence chief Porter Goss did not order his staff to "back Bush," as a newspaper headline put it Wednesday. According to an official in possession of the memo, Goss told his staff: "I also intend to clarify beyond doubt the rules of the road. We support the administration, and its policies in our work as agency employees. We do not identify with, support or champion opposition to the administration or its policies. We provide the intelligence as we see it -- and let the facts alone speak to...

With the nominations of Condoleezza Rice at State, Porter Goss at CIA, Donald Rumsfeld (or an equally tough replacement) at Defense and Stephen Hadley at NSC, the president has created an all-Patton foreign and defense team. Moreover, he has a team that understands that among the necessary targets of their firepower must be, not only our foreign enemies, but also the slouching, sly, insubordinate bureaucrats under their chain of command.

from drudge Devoleping...