Friday, May 05, 2006

Porter Goss Resigns

I would celebrate, but I fear the next appointee.

CIA Director Porter Goss Resigns
By JENNIFER LOVEN
The Associated Press
Friday, May 5, 2006; 2:18 PM

WASHINGTON -- CIA Director Porter Goss resigned unexpectedly Friday, leaving behind a spy agency still battling to recover from the scars of intelligence failures before America's worst terrorist attack and faulty information that formed the U.S. rationale for invading Iraq.

It was the latest move in a second-term shake-up of President Bush's team.

Making the announcement from the Oval Office, Bush called Goss' tenure one of transition.

"He has led ably," Bush said, Goss at his side. "He has a five-year plan to increase the analysts and operatives."

Goss said the trust, confidence and latitude that Bush placed in him "is something I could have never imagined."

" I believe the agency is on a very even keel, sailing well," Goss said. "I honestly believe that we have improved dramatically."

The president did not name a successor, but said that person would continue Goss' reforms.

"As a result, this country will be more secure," Bush said. "We've got to win the war on terror, and the Central Intelligence Agency is a vital part of the war. So I thank you for your service."

When Bush nominated Goss in August 2004, in the midst of the president's re-election campaign, he said he would rely on the advice of the CIA officer-turned-politician on the sensitive issue of intelligence reform.

"He knows the CIA inside and out," Bush said in a Rose Garden announcement at the time. "He's the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation's history."

Goss, a former congressman from Florida, head of the House Intelligence Committee and CIA agent, had been at the helm of the agency only since September 2004.

He came under fire almost immediately, in part because he brought with him several top aides from Congress who were considered highly political for the CIA.

Posted by crimnos @ 2:30 PM

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Yeah, with all the changes I am worried that they will move Cheney over there.

Ugh.

Posted by Blogger Handsome B. Wonderful @ 7:26 PM #
 
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