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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Steve Kappes, a recently retired CIA insider, has been offered the No. 2 slot at the spy agency, sources told CNN, to reassure the CIA operations community about Gen. Michael Hayden's appointment as director as well as ease concerns about that nominee's military ties. The decision to tap Kappes is also seen as a move aimed at members of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee who have raised doubts about Hayden. Kappes was a civilian operations officer who reportedly was forced out of the CIA by Porter Goss' associates after Goss became director in 2004. Intelligence analysts and...

Valerie Plame should be the next Director of Central Intelligence, not Gen. Mike Hayden. Now that the CIA's Praetorian Guard has -- with the connivance of National Intelligence Director John Negroponte -- rid itself of Porter Goss, the CIA is confidently preparing to march back into the intelligence dark ages that preceded 9/11. Gen. Hayden -- former head of the National Intelligence Agency and most famous for his strong defense of the NSA terrorist surveillance program -- is slated to be nominated for the DCI post today. Hayden, now Negroponte's deputy and choice for DCI, will face tough questioning in...

Monday, May 08, 2006 Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo is the subject of an FBI investigation related to poker parties and possible use of prostitutes to curry favor with defense and CIA contracting officials. Investigators are probing whether San Diego-based defense contractor Brent Wilkes provided prostitutes to lawmakers or Foggo in order to win federal contracts. The CIA sent out an e-mail to agency staff Monday afternoon announcing that Foggo was stepping down, but it did not say whether he was leaving the agency, U.S. officials said. Suggestions have been made that he will retire soon.

The reasons for Porter Goss’s abrupt departure as CIA director are shrouded in mystery. But its effect is not. It gives the impression that there has been a coup by the CIA insiders who have waged a covert policy war against the Bush administration for five years. The White House must act quickly to correct the impression that the renegades have won. The CIA is supposed to work for the president. It was created in 1948 to be the president’s civilian, non-partisan, non-policy intelligence arm. Its job is to provide an accurate picture of facts and trends so that decision...

Hayden considered pride of (Pittsburgh) North Side By David M. Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, May 7, 2006 Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the highest-ranking intelligence officer in the U.S. armed forces who could be President Bush's choice to head the Central Intelligence Agency, is a highly intelligent and hard-working man who learned valuable lessons growing up in Pittsburgh, according to former teachers and a classmate.

ALL the ingredients for a spy thriller involving prostitutes, poker, a congressman called Randy and parties at the legendary Watergate complex may lie behind the sudden resignation of Porter Goss as director of the CIA last Friday. The saga has already been named “Hookergate” and the CIA is buzzing with rumours that there is more to Goss’s departure than meets the eye. The timing is certainly curious, coming hard on the heels of the CIA’s confirmation last week that Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, the number three in the nation’s spy centre who was hand-picked by Goss, had attended poker games at...

A year after a presidential commission gave a scathing assessment of intelligence on Iran, they say, American spy agencies remain severely handicapped in their efforts to assess its weapons programs and its leaders' intentions. Whoever takes the helm of the C.I.A., after the resignation on Friday of Porter J. Goss, will confront a crucial target with few, if any, American spies on the ground, sketchy communications intercepts and ambiguous satellite images, the experts say. "Whenever the C.I.A. says 5 to 10 years, that means they don't know," said Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Iran specialist in the clandestine service of...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House on Saturday denied that President Bush had lost confidence in just-resigned CIA Director Porter Goss, saying there was a "collective agreement" the agency needed a new leader now. Bush planned to act quickly, perhaps as early as Monday, to nominate Goss' successor. The leading candidate was Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, the top deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, a senior administration official said. Goss played an important role in the fight against terrorism and "helped transform the agency to meet the challenging times we're living in," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told...

CNN just broke on Anderson Cooper 360 that former NSA Chief General Hayden will replace Goss as the head of the CIA. It hasn't been announced yet by the president though.

CIA Director Porter Goss abruptly resigned yesterday amid allegations that he and a top aide may have attended Watergate poker parties where bribes and prostitutes were provided to a corrupt congressman.

Some Thoughts on Porter Goss Much has been made, in the Mainstream Media , and out in the hinterlands of the Internet , of the fact Porter Goss did some long-overdue”housecleaning” at the CIA. “Oh-oh-oh !” , the critics moan. “ He got rid of key employees with decades of experience in intelligence gathering – with the aid of a deputy he chose personally, and that we know next-to-nothing about !” It does not seem to have occurred to the critics that those who were swept out may have been those whose intransigence helped keep the CIA from discovering the...

Another sign that Congress's intelligence reform is a mess. Like most spy matters, Porter Goss's surprise resignation yesterday as CIA Director is hard to read. The White House insists he wasn't forced out, and at 67 years old the former head of the House Intelligence Committee has always said he didn't plan on a long tenure. - snip - The most distressing news would be if Mr. Goss is a victim of those parts of the permanent intelligence bureaucracy that resisted his tenure from the start. Nasty press leaks helped to knee-cap one of the aides Mr. Goss brought with...

Goss quits as CIA chief By Joseph Curl and Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published May 6, 2006 CIA Director Porter J. Goss resigned abruptly yesterday, leaving a post he held for less than two years and becoming the latest high-level administration official to be ensnared in a White House shake-up.     Mr. Goss, widely unpopular among senior officials in the intelligence community and blamed for repeated leaks in recent months, called President Bush yesterday morning to offer his resignation. "I've accepted it," the president said.     Yesterday's announcement was hastily arranged, with the two men speaking briefly to reporters in the...

President George W. Bush stunned Washington on Friday by accepting the resignation of CIA Director Porter J. Goss, and Republican sources told TIME that the White House plans to name his replacement on Monday: Air Force General Michael V. Hayden, who as Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence has been a visible and aggressive defender of the administration's controversial eavesdropping program. His nomination is sure to reignite the battle over the program on Capitol Hill, where one House Democrat promises "a partisan food fight" during the confirmation process. Though Hayden, who has a close rapport with Vice President Cheney, has...

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. 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...

Today President Bush visted a local hardware store in the Capiol Hill area (Frager's Hardware) , after shopping for Barney, he spoke the employees of Frager's Hardwars about the economy and the importance of the small business community. Later today the President accepted the resignation of CIA director, Porter Goss. An announcement of his replacement is expected to be made on Monday

CIA boss in surprise resignation Porter Goss's resignation surprised friends and pundits alike US President George Bush has unexpectedly announced that the head of the CIA, Porter Goss, is stepping down.No reason was given for the move. Mr Goss has served in the role for less than two years, since being chosen by Mr Bush to replace George Tenet. He was given the job of reforming the agency after a series of intelligence failures, particularly in relation to the 11 September attacks. Mr Bush said Mr Goss had "a tough job and he led ably". Mr Goss said: "I...

Goss Resignation is a frightening sign Porter Goss was brought into the CIA to try to reform the organization. Mr. Goss was expected to bring about badly needed changes in the U.S. spy organization that is increasingly at the center of so many controversies. However, Goss never had a chance. Rarely reported by the very biased media, much of the CIA and the U.S. Justice Department was "cleared out" during the Clinton Administration. Many of the key legal organizations responsible for America's security and stability were then staffed by Hillary Clinton handpicked staffers. Some of them hired from the outside,...

WASHINGTON - CIA Director Porter Goss has resigned, a senior administration official said. President Bush, who has been making staff changes at the White House to reinvigoriate his second term, was making another personnel announcement Friday. Bush's new chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, has made several changes since taking over last month. Recently, longtime Bush adviser and confidant Karl Rove had the policy-making portion of his portfolio taken away so he could focus on the midterm elections and White House press secretary Scott McClellan announced his resignation. McClellan has been replaced by Fox News commentator Tony Snow. McClellan's last briefing...

Press conference at 1:45