Why Did Porter Goss Resign?

There is not one reason but many, one has been mentioned widely on the web widespread dissatisfaction within the Bush administration with Goss' performance. The mass exodus of personnel the resignation of key people, leaks, etc. However it appears that the heart of the dissatisfaction goes to Goss' unwillingness to buckle under to Rumsfeld and the DOD. The CIA is target # 1 for what can only be described as a 'hostile takeover' by Rumsfeld and his Defense Department, led by Rumsfeld's surrogate, John Negroponte. It took Mr. Goss a while to figure out what was happening to his agency, but savvy CIA insiders made him see the light. So that you the reader may understand where I stand on this, I was never a fan of Mr. Goss. I thought he was arrogant, insensitive to the needs of some very special people who do some very special work and was initially sent to do a job he eventually found loathsome. That job was to get the CIA 'on board' with Rumsfeld's agenda. With Goss' departure you can rest assured that the DOD is going to take over key portions of the CIA's mission. The DOD, according to some observers are so desperate to get hold of the CIA's mission that they are willing on occasion to 'smoke out' undercover CIA operatives in dangerous places to have them axed thus exposing the CIA's 'incompetence' and allowing the DOD to move in. Many of you will not believe this, I can only tell you, in all truth and honesty that this is what I have been told by those who still work in the upper levels of the intelligence community.

Early Friday morning in a meeting with the administration principles, the President ordered Mr. Goss to 'drop everything' he was doing and concentrate the entire agencies efforts to capturing Osama Bin Laden and his second in command. He also directed that the Iraqi insurgency should be brought in line because clearly the DOD was incapable of doing it. Mr. Goss made it clear to administration principles that this would gravely imperil the security of this nation. When the principals insisted, Mr. Goss walked out, resigned. Anyone with a brain can see this as a dangerous form of election year posturing and Goss apparently did and left. The plan; try and catch Osama before the election and hope in the process, that the nation is insecure enough to invite another terrorist attack as some in the GOP are hoping for.

The Bush administration under Rumsfeld¹ (who is the second most important policy maker outside of Cheney), does not want the CIA to survive and if it does, it must be severely reduced in scope and under his watchful eye and de-facto control. The federal laws that govern its operations are viewed as too cumbersome. When this mission is shifted over to the DOD, most of those laws will not apply. The DOD is eventually going to win this battle. The military will in essence run all of our intelligence agencies, once that is accomplished, it seems inevitable that it will begin to turn to law enforcement as it is already doing in much of the so called 'War On Terror'.

There are some major establishment media pieces that are floating around now dutifully repeated in all of the major papers (NYT, WP, Chicago Tribune) that alludes to the 'reduced role' the agency is having to play. What these papers fail to point out clearly is who is going to get the power after they dismantle the agency and centuries of covert experience leaves the CIA. It will be the military and it will be a major coup for a more direct form of a government 'by and for the defense (war) establishment'. Sadly, the recruits coming into the military today are a scary bunch. These are people who barely graduated high school, read at the 6^th grade level, lack the flexibility, creativity and intelligence to be truly useful in this kind of business. Even its newer officers do not inspire confidence. In covert operations as well as covert intelligence gathering, you do not need knuckle-draggers, and gung-ho macho men, you need people who can do the job without anyone ever having known the job was done. To sum it all up, if you like our performance in Iraq, you'll love what Rumsfeld does to the CIA.

Hayden's appointment will ensure the reduction in the CIA's mission. It will eventually fall into the hands of the DOD, the problem is going to be a major one as many in the clandestine services are not keen about this and view this move as a hostile takeover. While one of the major criticisms of Goss was the mass exodus of personnel, I do not see that having a Rumsfeld crony and military general who is still (technically) in Rumsfeld's military Chain of Command running the CIA as a solution. It will only exacerbate the problem and perhaps cause even more resignations, seriously imperiling the security on the nation. Let us not forget that Hayden is responsible for the illegal spying and eavesdropping activity that Bush says his power of 'dictator in war' makes legal. He is just another one of those head bobbing 'yes man' who has forgotten his oath of office. He has killed many a program that could have saved this nation billions of dollars because he was afraid he would have to yield some political and administrative 'turf'. It is men like him that have seriously imperiled this nation.

"I do believe he's the wrong person, the wrong place, at the wrong time. We should not have a military person leading a civilian agency at this time." - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich

While many of my readers are quick to cast all CIA personnel as drug-peddling devil worshipers. The reality is far and away from those comic-book images. The CIA, like the DOD are front line people who have secured this nation from its enemies for decades. There have been many heinous² abuses in the past to be certain, and some of those abuses continue to this day, but that is what Congressional oversight was designed to prevent, or at least mitigate. That is going away now and if you thought the CIA was peddling coke and worshiping devils before, wait and see what kind of monstrosity this administration is birthing now with these new Intel agencies and the emergence of new forms of mercenaries and the destruction of the CIA.

Mark S. Watson

VIII Maius MMVI, Anno Domini

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