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why did CIA chief Goss resign?
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| Spacey Orange |
a bubbling scandal:
| quote: | CIA boss Goss is cooked
Tied to contractor's poker parties -
hints of bribes & women
BY RICHARD SISK and JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Outgoing CIA Director Porter Goss shakes hands with President Bush yesterday at surprise White House announcement of Goss' resignation after only a year.
WASHINGTON - 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.
Kyle (Dusty) Foggo, the No. 3 official at the CIA, could soon be indicted in a widening FBI investigation of the parties thrown by defense contractor Brent Wilkes, named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randall (Duke) Cunningham, law enforcement sources said.
A CIA spokeswoman said Foggo went to the lavish weekly hospitality-suite parties at the Watergate and Westin Grand hotels but "just for poker."
Intelligence and law enforcement sources said solid evidence had yet to emerge that Goss also went to the parties, but Goss and Foggo share a fondness for poker and expensive cigars, and the FBI investigation was continuing.
Larry Johnson, a former CIA operative and a Bush administration critic, said Goss "had a relationship with Dusty and with Brent Wilkes that's now coming under greater scrutiny."
Johnson vouched for the integrity of Foggo and Goss but said, "Dusty was a big poker player, and it's my understanding that Porter Goss was also there \[at Wilkes' parties\] for poker. It's going to be guilt by association."
"It's all about the Duke Cunningham scandal," a senior law enforcement official told the Daily News in reference to Goss' resignation. Duke, a California Republican, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after pleading guilty in November to taking $2.4 million in homes, yachts and other bribes in exchange for steering government contracts.
Goss' inability to handle the allegations swirling around Foggo prompted John Negroponte, the director of National Intelligence, who oversees all of the nation's spy agencies, to press for the CIA chief's ouster, the senior official said. The official said Goss is not an FBI target but "there is an impending indictment" of Foggo for steering defense contracts to his poker buddies.
One subject of the FBI investigation is a $3 million CIA contract that went to Wilkes to supply bottled water and other goods to CIA operatives in Iraq and Afghanistan, sources said.
In a hastily arranged Oval Office announcement that stunned official Washington, neither President Bush nor Goss offered a substantive reason for why the head of the spy agency was leaving after only a year on the job.
"He has led ably" in an era of CIA transition, Bush said with Goss seated at his side. "He has a five-year plan to increase the analysts and operatives."
Goss said the trust Bush placed in him "is something I could never have imagined." "I believe the agency is on a very even keel, sailing well," he said.
The official Bush administration spin that emerged later was that Goss lost out in a turf battle with Negroponte, but Goss' tenure was marked by the resignations of several veteran operatives who viewed him as an amateur out of his depth.
White House officials said Bush would announce early next week his choice to succeed Goss. Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, Negroponte's top deputy, heads the list of potential replacements, with White House counterterror chief Fran Townsend also on the short list.
Negroponte "apparently had no confidence" in Goss, and Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board was also "very alarmed by problems at the CIA," said a congressional source involved in oversight of U.S. spy agencies.
"Supposedly the \[Cunningham\] scandal was the last straw," the source said. "This administration may be on the verge of a major scandal."
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Daily News |
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| Q5echo |
i don't know man. Poker? eh.
i can understand guilt association but the office of director is so much bigger.
a very complicated power struggle eminating from the shake-up of the entire intel community makes more sense to me. |
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| josh4 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Q5echo
i don't know man. Poker? eh.
i can understand guilt association but the office of director is so much bigger.
a very complicated power struggle eminating from the shake-up of the entire intel community makes more sense to me. |
and the fact that he was destroying the CIA might have something to do with it or at least made the decision easier and a relief as Goss was creating
| quote: | "a climate of fear and intimidation at the CIA that produced a reluctance to take risks, which is the last thing you want in an intelligence agency" and suggested that "Porter Goss was such an absolute disaster for the agency and our national security that his departure comes not a day too soon."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2...s/index_np.html |
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| Q5echo |
| quote: | | "a climate of fear and intimidation at the CIA that produced a reluctance to take risks, which is the last thing you want in an intelligence agency" and suggested that "Porter Goss was such an absolute disaster for the agency and our national security that his departure comes not a day too soon." |
did Ivo Daadler say that?
i only see two paragraghs. i don't have a subscription. (hey, screw you. a lot of people don't!) |
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| occrider |
Interesting quote Josh4. I posted this article back in 2004:
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Purge ordered at CIA
Sources say White House has told new chief 'get rid' of staffers who were disloyal to president
BY KNUT ROYCE
WASHINGTON BUREAU
November 14, 2004
Washington - The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.
"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."
One of the first casualties appears to be Stephen R. Kappes, deputy director of clandestine services, the CIA's most powerful division. The Washington Post reported yesterday that Kappes had tendered his resignation after a confrontation with Goss' chief of staff, Patrick Murray, but at the behest of the White House had agreed to delay his decision till tomorrow.
But the former senior CIA official said that the White House "doesn't want Steve Kappes to reconsider his resignation. That might be the spin they put on it, but they want him out." He said the job had already been offered to the former chief of the European Division who retired after a spat with then-CIA Director George Tenet.
Another recently retired top CIA official said he was unsure Kappes had "officially resigned, but I do know he was unhappy."
Without confirming or denying that the job offer had been made, a CIA spokesman asked Newsday to withhold naming the former officer because of his undercover role over the years. He said he had no comment about Goss' personnel plans, but he added that changes at the top are not unusual when new directors come in.
On Friday John E. McLaughlin, a 32-year veteran of the intelligence division who served as acting CIA director before Goss took over, announced that he was retiring. The spokesman said that the retirement had been planned and was unrelated to the Kappes resignation or to other morale problems inside the CIA.
It could not be learned yesterday if the White House had identified Kappes, a respected operations officer, as one of the officials "disloyal" to Bush.
"The president understands and appreciates the sacrifices made by the members of the intelligence community in the war against terrorism," said a White House official of the report that he was purging the CIA of "disloyal" officials. " . . . The suggestion [that he ordered a purge] is inaccurate."
But another former CIA official who retains good contacts within the agency said that Goss and his top aides, who served on his staff when Goss was chairman of the House intelligence committee, believe the agency had relied too much over the years on liaison work with foreign intelligence agencies and had not done enough to develop its own intelligence collection system.
"Goss is not a believer in liaison work," said this retired official. But, he said, the CIA's "best intelligence really comes from liaison work. The CIA is simply not going to develop the assets [agents and case officers] that would meet the intelligence requirements."
Tensions between the White House and the CIA have been the talk of the town for at least a year, especially as leaks about the mishandling of the Iraq war have dominated front pages.
Some of the most damaging leaks came from Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit, who wrote a book anonymously called "Imperial Hubris" that criticized what he said was the administration's lack of resolve in tracking down the al-Qaida chieftain and the reallocation of intelligence and military manpower from the war on terrorism to the war in Iraq. Scheuer announced Thursday that he was resigning from the agency.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationw...lnews-headlines
http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...&highlight=Goss
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I was told that this was a good move because a team that was on board with the president's agenda would be a more effective team overall ... to which I responded with:
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The CIA's duties are NOT to support the President's agenda by providing analyses that solely corroborate his ideological position which allows his agenda to "win". Their job is to provide comprehensive, objective analyses that pertains to the facts rather than the ideological desired state. By purging your intelligence agency of dissenting voices and sending warnings to all others who may share similar objections in their analyses of the intelligence, you move closer to an intelligence agency of yes-men that is most fittingly head by the individual in my avatar, than an intelligence agency who provides the facts regardless of its impact on the President's own personal agenda or anyone's agenda. This is common sense here ...
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Note: my avatar at the time was baghdad bob :) |
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| occrider |
Probably the only good thing about the Hayden nomination (asides from correcting a collosal error in judgment by making Goss director in the first place) is that they're bringing back the veteran CIA deputy director Stephen Kappes, who quit back in 2004 because of Goss's ineptitude, as deputy director. But if he was so good, and is experienced, as all accounts seem to indicate (Libya?) ... particularly the white house's desire to bring him back, why didn't the white house simply make him director?
| quote: |
General Formally Named to Lead CIA
Official Who Quit Under Goss Would Be Hayden's No. 2
By Peter Baker and Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 9, 2006; Page A01
The White House moved quickly yesterday to defuse concern over the nomination of Gen. Michael V. Hayden for CIA director, promising to balance the leadership of the nation's premier civilian spy agency with a well-known and popular veteran of the organization in the No. 2 position.
In a highly unorthodox move, the White House disclosed the plan shortly after President Bush's formal announcement of Hayden's nomination in the Oval Office, in hopes of reassuring those worried about too much military influence over the intelligence community.
Under the plan, Vice Adm. Albert M. Calland III would be replaced as deputy director by retired CIA official Stephen R. Kappes, who quit in November 2004 in a dispute with then-Director Porter J. Goss.
The move was seen as a direct repudiation of Goss's leadership and as an olive branch to CIA veterans disaffected by his 18-month tenure, during which many other senior officials followed Kappes out the door. The White House was so eager to get out the news of Kappes's likely appointment that it was announced from the lectern in the briefing room, even though the Senate has not yet confirmed Hayden and Kappes was officially described as "the leading contender" for the job.
Other Goss lieutenants at the agency also appear to be on the way out, following Goss, who resigned Friday. Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, brought in by Goss as the CIA's executive director -- its No. 3 official -- announced to agency staff in an e-mail yesterday that he plans to resign as well. The FBI said it is investigating whether Foggo steered contracts to a friend, Brent R. Wilkes. The CIA confirmed last week that Foggo attended private poker games with Wilkes at a Washington hotel.
The moves are part of a concerted effort by the president's team to recover ground after several key Republicans expressed reservations about Hayden's nomination over the weekend, citing his military background and involvement in warrantless domestic surveillance. Most damaging to the White House was criticism by Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the House intelligence committee chairman, who called Hayden "the wrong man at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Without naming Hoekstra, Bush appeared to directly rebut him yesterday while appearing with Hayden before cameras in the Oval Office. "He's the right man to lead the CIA at this critical moment in our nation's history," Bush said.
Bush also reached out to the skeptical CIA workforce, which has gone through years of tumult since the failure to stop the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the flawed assessments of Iraq's weapons programs. "In Mike Hayden, the men and women of the CIA will have a strong leader who will support them," Bush said.
Hayden, wearing a pressed blue Air Force uniform with four stars on the shoulders, also tried to reassure the civilian spies.
"If confirmed, I would be honored to join you and work with so many good friends," he said. "Your achievements are frequently underappreciated and hidden from the public eye, but you know what you do to protect the republic."
But Hayden, the deputy national intelligence director and formerly head of the National Security Agency, declined to retire his military commission, as several senators from both parties recommended. "That is not his intention at this particular time," John D. Negroponte, director of national intelligence, said at a briefing.
The CIA has had several military officers as its director, but none in the past 25 years, and Hayden's nomination comes at a time when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has moved aggressively to expand the Pentagon's intelligence operations. Hayden's nomination has also reignited debate over the legality of the NSA's secret eavesdropping without court approval on telephone calls and e-mail between the United States and overseas in cases when one participant is suspected of terrorist ties.
Despite the concerns expressed by some lawmakers over the weekend, Hayden received a warm reception yesterday in the place it matters most -- the Senate intelligence committee, which will handle his confirmation hearings. Committee Republicans either fully embraced him or, at worst, reserved judgment, and a key Democrat said she expects to support Hayden and assumes he will be confirmed.
"He's going to surround himself with professional people," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told reporters. "The Gosslings are going," she added, referring to Goss's close coterie of aides installed at Langley. "Rumsfeld wanted to control the NSA, and to his credit Hayden stood up."
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said in an interview that Hayden "is just about as capable as anyone I've ever seen." He said Hayden's military position is an asset, not a drawback. Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) also praised Hayden in an interview, calling him well qualified for the post. Having a civilian in the deputy slot is good, he added, because "you want someone in there who balances you out and complements you."
Even if Hayden is confirmed, several senators, including Republicans, made it clear they intend to use the process to examine issues such as the NSA surveillance, the civilian-military balance and other matters.
"While I am not opposed to his nomination, senators, including myself, will have important questions which they will want addressed prior to any confirmation vote," Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said in a statement.
Several liberal Democrats signaled that they may fight, judging by the critical remarks of senators such as Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.), John F. Kerry (Mass.), Frank R. Lautenberg (N.J.) and Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.). "The last thing America needs is a 'yes man' at the helm of the Central Intelligence Agency," Kennedy said.
"The appointment of General Hayden is the latest example of President Bush giving promotions to those who have led the greatest attacks on our Constitution and fundamental freedoms," Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.
But the apparent decision to name Kappes as Hayden's deputy resonated powerfully within the CIA and may ease resistance by the agency. A low-key former Marine and 23-year CIA veteran who served in the Near East, South Asia and Europe, Kappes had risen to chief of the agency's clandestine service and was seen as a future director. He traveled secretly to Libya in 2004 to persuade its leader, Moammar Gaddafi, to renounce weapons of mass destruction.
But Kappes clashed immediately with Patrick Murray, the former Capitol Hill aide whom Goss installed as his chief of staff at the CIA. After one month on the job, Murray demanded that Kappes fire his deputy, Michael Sulick, for challenging Murray's authority. Kappes refused and he and Sulick resigned, triggering an unprecedented flood of resignations that the president's advisory board on intelligence this year blamed on Goss (how surprising ... given the unprecedented growth in government by this administration, I'm completely taken aback by such examples of big government beaurocracy :rolleyes: - occrider).
Kappes's appointment was seen among former and current CIA officers as a sign that Hayden will embrace professionals once again and understands the central role of experienced spies in developing a new National Clandestine Service, the name for those tasked with espionage and penetrating terrorist networks. Several said Kappes would immediately give Hayden a smooth landing at the agency, which one former official described as suffering from "battered-child syndrome" under Goss.
"This will send a wonderful signal to the agency that Hayden understands them, trusts them and honors the work they have done," said former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow.
"It's a phenomenal choice," said A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, a former executive director of the CIA. "It's an admission that it was a big mistake for Goss to bring in the people he did and let them loose with no adult supervision."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...mail/components
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