Central Agency
August 10, 2004: President Bush, speaking about his appointee for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director, Porter Goss:
“He knows the CIA inside and out” and “He’s the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation’s history.”
March 3, 2004: Porter Goss on Porter Goss:
It is true I was in CIA from approximately the late 50’s to approximately the early 70’s. And it’s true I was a case officer, clandestine services office and yes I do understand the core mission of the business. I couldn’t get a job with CIA today. I am not qualified. I don’t have the language skills. I, you know, my language skills were romance languages and stuff. We’re looking for Arabists today. I don’t have the cultural background probably. And I certainly don’t have the technical skills, uh, as my children remind me every day, “Dad you got to get better on your computer.” Uh, so, the things that you need to have, I don’t have.
It appears that the President doesn’t accept Goss’ opinion on his own qualifications, though many current and former CIA staffers do.
“This whole appointment is a cheap political trick. One of the recommendations of the commission is that no political appointee be made director. But this is so clearly political. If Goss isn’t a political appointee, than I don’t know what is.”
~Former top CIA Iraq analyst Judith Yaphe
Former CIA agent Larry Johnson also questioned Goss’s qualifications. “There is one thing Goss didn’t really do for the last several years — he didn’t chair the House Intelligence Committee, in spite of what his resume claims,” said Johnson. “Instead, he did the dead man’s float.”
Johnson said Goss did not have the experience claimed. Goss did not “push through real reforms, for example, getting more funding for badly clandestine assets. He didn’t do any of it.”
Former CIA Counter-terrorism Chief Vince Cannistraro agreed: “Goss has never been very distinguished, but he’s protected. He’s a Bush loyalist and has been in the forefront of those who have tried to place the major blame for the 9/11 attacks on the agency.”
Since Porter Goss took over, experienced agents are handing in their resignations daily. These are not friendly partings. News sources use words such as war and crisis to describe the exodus. A roster of agents on the outs include:
- John McLaughlin, deputy director
- Stephen Kappes, head of the clandestine service
- Mike Scheuer, the CIA’s Osama bin Laden expert
- James Pavitt, the deputy director of operations
And the President won’t accept any intelligence that he doesn’t already agree with, either:
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.”
On Monday, Goss issued a memo to his staff which apparently urged them to fall in line with the Bush agenda:
“As agency employees we do not identify with, support or champion opposition to the administration or its policies,” Mr. Goss said in the memorandum, which was circulated late on Monday. He said in the document that he was seeking “to clarify beyond doubt the rules of the road.”
Memo from Porter Goss to CIA Staff
November 15, 2004
Washington Times
So Porter Goss may be pressuring his staff to be “team players”, and has been ordered to fire anyone who may disagree with a Bush policy, who may present information that directly challenges the wisdom of a Bush policy, or anyone who might make public any information that might make a Bush decision look bad.
CIA’s mission is to support the President, the National Security Council, and all officials who make and execute the U.S. national security policy by:
- Providing accurate, comprehensive, and timely foreign intelligence on national security topics.
- Conducting counterintelligence activities, special activities, and other functions related to foreign intelligence and national security, as directed by the President.
…CIA serves as an independent source of analysis on topics of concern and also works …to ensure that the intelligence consumer…receives the best intelligence possible.
I guess the phrase “best intelligence possible” now means: telling President Bush whatever he wants to hear.
So many experienced agents lost.
A man who admits he’s unqualified is in charge.
Anybody who has his own opinion is afraid for his job.
Anyone with information the President might not like is afraid for her job.
Maybe they should drop the “I” and just start calling it “Central Agency” now.
Anonymous said,
November 18, 2004 @ 11:49 am
Why would a president (not capitalized for the next 4 years from this keyboard) who is provided so much support from the family of the most sought after man in recent history want to have intelligence that would lead to this mans capture? My theory says, shape intellegence so that his capture is impossible.