Other recent changes in the White House were expected, but the announcement today that CIA Director Porter Goss resigned came abruptly …with little explanation, when President George Bush announced it:
CIA Director Porter J. Goss resigned today after less than two years on the job, President Bush announced at the White House.
Bush said Goss offered his resignation this morning and that “I’ve accepted it.”
This Washington Post article gives little explanation of why he resigned and why Bush accepted it…mainly because it (glaringly) wasn’t given:
Neither the president nor Goss, who sat to Bush’s right as he made the announcement in the Oval Office, gave a reason for the resignation.
Bush said he had established “a very close personal relationship” with Goss, who succeeded George J. Tenet as director of the CIA in September 2004. He said Goss’s tenure has been marked by “transition” as the CIA has become integrated into an intelligence community headed by a new director of national intelligence. Veteran ambassador John D. Negroponte was named to that post in 2005, taking over a position whose creation was recommended by the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Bush said Goss had instilled a “sense of professionalism” in the CIA. He expressed confidence that his successor “will continue reforms” at the agency.
Bush did not name a successor or indicate when he would choose one.
There was the usual praise given when someone decides to leave an administration or takes a hint and heads towards the exit. Little more. Watch the VIDEO HERE.
And although Goss has had a bumpy ride since he took over The Agency, his name wasn’t one of the ones most people expected to see in an administration shake up. The Los Angeles Times:
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.
He had particularly poor relations with segments of the agency’s powerful clandestine service. In a bleak assessment, California Rep. Jane Harman, the Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, recently said, “The CIA is in a free fall,” noting that employees with a combined 300 years of experience have left or been pushed out.
But it’s unlikely that comments or opinions from Democrats led to his exit. Were there personal reasons? A falling out with other administration officials? His disagreement over a policy? A need to “spend more time with his family” or “spend more time spying on his family?” Was it: “He’s all tapped out..” Nothing was said.
Some suggest it could be something dealing with a scandal like this (but no proof yet). The LAT again:
Under Goss and the sweeping intelligence overhaul Congress approved in December 2004, the CIA lost considerable clout among U.S. spy agencies. With the installation of the country’s first national intelligence director, John Negroponte, Goss no longer sat atop the 16 intelligence agencies. Negroponte took that role — and many of the CIA director’s responsibilities. That includes Bush’s morning intelligence briefings….
….Goss has pressed for aggressive probes about leaked information.
“The damage has been very severe to our capabilities to carry out our mission,” he told Congress in February, adding that a federal grand jury should be impaneled to determine “who is leaking this information.”
Just two weeks ago, Goss announced the firing of a top intelligence analyst in connection with a Pulitzer Prize-winning story about a network of CIA prisons in Eastern Europe. Such dismissals are highly unusual.
So the question now becomes: who will Bush pick from Fox News to fill this position?
UDATES: The lively Internet tabloid Sploid minces no words about why it thinks this resignation took place — and gives a no-holds-barred account. A small part of it:
But the growing “Hookergate” scandal connected to convicted criminal Duke Cunningham and CIA executive director Dusty Foggo may have finally wrapped its whorish tentacles around Goss’ neck.
“Something happened,” neo-conservative magazine editor William Kristol said on Fox News this afternoon. “It’s going to be a bad few days. We’re going to discover something … It will be something not good for the Bush Administration.”
Fox News actually got a phone call from a “top White House official” during Kristol’s damning comments, and Kristol was cut off so Bush mouthpiece Chris Wallace could say the Goss resignation is just a harmless part of the “White House shakeup.” Sure.
People can (and will) debate over the possible reasons. What’s undeniable is: this was VERY abrupt — and that usually means something did indeed happen. And the more the bad news is delayed, the bigger it’s going to be when it does break.
SOME OTHER RESOURCES:
—Fox News Raw Data on Goss
—Outside The Beltway, InstaPundit, Daily Kos, Newshog
NOTE: Due to travel and other posts we may be unable to expand the list of links. So be sure to click on TRACKBACKS to this post to read other views from other sites.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.