CIA Director Goss Stepping Down
Shane Harris, who covers intelligence and national security for National Journal, files this report on CIA director Porter Goss' resignation:
CIA Director Porter J. Goss announced today he is resigning his post, after serving as head of the agency for less than two years. Goss' departure comes amid considerable turmoil inside the agency, including an aggressive internal investigation to find officials that allegedly leaked classified information to the media about the CIA's counterterrorism operations, and allegations of corruption among at least one senior official.
Goss was reluctant to take the CIA post, according to several former intelligence officials. During his tenure, he saw the importance of the CIA director diminished. Today, the director of national intelligence, John Negroponte, is the primary intelligence conduit to the White House and briefs the president daily on intelligence matters. That has left the CIA marginalized in the intelligence pecking order, and some former officials speculated that Goss no longer wanted to remain at the helm of a weakened agency.
"[Goss] hasn't enjoyed the job that much," said one former official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "And his wife really didn't want him to do it."
But another former official theorized that Goss' departure could be connected to persistent rumors that CIA officials and prominent lawmakers-past and present-could be implicated in a ring of contracting and bribery scandals tied to former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif. Unsubstantiated reports have suggested that the FBI's probe of Cunningham would extend to current and former members of the congressional defense and intelligence committees.
Last week, Ken Silverstein of the Harper's magazine blog reported that, according to sources, the FBI was scrutinizing a former lawmaker "who now holds a powerful intelligence post." That fueled blog speculation that the former lawmaker was Goss, who once chaired the House Intelligence Committee.
The CIA's inspector general has opened an investigation into the CIA's third-ranking official, Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, because of his reported connection to two defense contractors accused of bribing Cunningham.
Appearing before reporters in the Oval Office this afternoon, Goss told President Bush, "The [CIA] is back on a very even keel and sailing well." The president said that Goss "has led ably." [SHANE HARRIS]