The Fix-It Man Leaves, but The Agency's Cracks Remain [Dana Priest's "analysis"]

Washington Post ^ | May 6, 2006 | By Dana Priest, Washington Post Staff Writer

[aculeus]

Porter J. Goss was brought into the CIA to quell what the White House viewed as a partisan insurgency against the administration and to re-energize a spy service that failed to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks or accurately assess Iraq's weapons capability.

But as he walked out the glass doors of Langley headquarters yesterday, Goss left behind an agency that current and former intelligence officials say is weaker operationally, with a workforce demoralized by an exodus of senior officers and by uncertainty over its role in fighting terrorism and other intelligence priorities, said current and former intelligence officials.

In public, Goss once acknowledged being "amazed at the workload." Within headquarters, "he never bonded with the workforce," said John O. Brennan, a former senior CIA official and interim director of the National Counterterrorism Center until last July.

"Now there's a decline in morale, its capability has not been optimized and there's a hemorrhaging of very good officers," Brennan said. "Turf battles continue" with other parts of the recently reorganized U.S. intelligence community "because there's a lack of clarity and he had no vision or strategy about the CIA's future." Brennan added: "Porter's a dedicated public servant. He was ill-suited for the job."

[Darkwolf377]

" there's a hemorrhaging of very good officers,"

Which would be said whether it was true or if Clinton loyalists left, so meaningless in itself.

[LibLieSlayer]

It is ironic that a woman that I believe one day will serve time in prison for treason and sedition, would continue to post articles about an agency at the heart of her future prosecution!

LLS

[Just mythoughts]

Ah a Pulitzer prize update of the workings of the CIA. Makes my day to know at least Dana is still on the job. (sarcasm noted not that I should have to make it known)

[PhilipFreneau]

And in other news, national security traitor, Dana Priest, strikes back at the CIA boss who allowed her co-conspirator within the CIA, Mary McCarthy, to be fired!

[G.Mason]

" ... Goss left behind an agency that current and former intelligence officials say is weaker operationally, with a workforce demoralized by an exodus of senior officers and by uncertainty over its role in fighting terrorism and other intelligence priorities, said current and former intelligence officials."

Why do I have the feeling that some "current and former intelligence officials" need to be incarcerated in say, Guantanamo, until they are fully investigated for crimes against the United States?

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Ah, the left is heard from. I hope Mrs Pries-Goodfellow is one day brought up on charges. I won't hold my breath, but I certainly hope it happens.

[freema]

pinzping

[STARWISE]

Have a laugh or two .. covering for her cabal buddies, as usual .. and so blatantly disingenuous:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Goss, then the Republican chairman of the House intelligence panel, was handpicked by the White House to purge what some in the administration viewed as a cabal of wily spies working to oppose administration policy in Iraq. "He came in to clean up without knowing what he was going to clean up," one former intelligence official said.

Goss's counterinsurgency campaign was so crudely executed by his top lieutenants, some of them former congressional staffers, that they drove out senior and mid-level civil servants who were unwilling to accept the accusation that their actions were politically motivated, some intelligence officers and outside experts said.

"The agency was never at war with the White House," contended Gary Berntsen, a former operations officer and self-described Republican and Bush supporter who retired in June 2005. "Eighty-five percent of them are Republicans. The CIA was a convenient scapegoat."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And this gem:

"As important, Goss -- who did not like to travel overseas or to wine and dine foreign intelligence chiefs who visited Washington -- allowed the atrophy of relations with the foreign intelligence services that helped the CIA kill or catch nearly all the terrorists taken off the streets since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in the view of these officials and several foreign intelligence officials.

Foreign intelligence heads, who used to spend hours with Goss's predecessor, George J. Tenet, discussing strategy and tactics, are now more likely to meet with the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, whose position was created in the overhaul of U.S. intelligence agencies."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And we know how effective these meetings with Tenet were in getting vital accurate pre 9/11 intelligence .../sarc.

[bkepley]

Nixon said the CIA wasn't worth spit way back in his time. Some people even claimed that the CIA was behind his problems. I think CIA should be dismantled and the important pieces given to other agencies.

[YaYa123]

"One senior European counterterrorism official, asked recently for his assessment of Goss's leadership, responded by saying, "Who?"
That's such bitchy joke, I bet Priest made it up.

Yes, she continues to describe her sources as "current and former intelligence officials". Someone tell her we know who she's describing, Plame, McCarthy, and Larry Johnson.

But no acknowledgement from Dana Goodfellow Priest, the people she mourns who are leaving the CIA in droves, are the disloyal incompetents Goss was hired to get rid of. And most of them her sources!!!

[G.Mason]

" ... Yes, she continues to describe her sources as "current and former intelligence officials". Someone tell her we know who she's describing, Plame, McCarthy, and Larry Johnson."

One can only hope that the "well" is drying up, and these traitorous bottom feeders will be dying of "thirst".

[BluH2o]

Nixon said the CIA wasn't worth spit way back in his time.

Still isn't ... in terms of bang for the buck (tax dollars) the CIA is the least effective agency in the U.S. government.
That really takes a concerted effort ...

[Alia]

Dana Priest is not writing about what is really going on in the Intel Community. Goss did perform his job; mission accomplished. He shuffled the decks clearly and by face cards. Now, may the genuine cleansing begin. And it should. The real "intel" will be coming in, and to replace the false Intel apparatus which has been in place for too many years. She knows it. Her own house of cards is falling.

Good.

[browardchad]

Someone tell her we know who she's describing, Plame, McCarthy, and Larry Johnson."

Don't forget McGovern, that rabidly anti-Semitic fountain of mental health and veracity.

Goss was the hatchet man. The fact that he didn't "bond" with the agency guys (poor, poor babies!) simply proves that a) he was focused on the job, and b) didn't give a hoot about popularity contests, knowing his was a hit-and-run assignment.

Priest is mourning the inevitable drying up of her precious "administration sources" -- the flurry of major leaks in the past six months were their death throes.

[FreedomPoster]

Ping; you may find some amusement here.

[Crawdad]

That's why she does it. She'll scream retribution for any prosecution.

[SE Mom]

What's appalling in the FIRST place is that the WaPo would even HAVE Dana Priest covering this story..

[Sacajaweau]

My take is that Goss did what he set out to do...find a bunch of leakers and expose them.

McCarthy is likely just one of them...Being a woman and Clinton (and Berger) friendly, I'd say little Mary had a big agenda to fulfill...except it wasn't for her country, it was for Hillary.

[khnyny]

"It is ironic that a woman that I believe one day will serve time in prison for treason and sedition, would continue to post articles about an agency at the heart of her future prosecution!"

Sometimes, when you look around, life really is ridiculous. You would think the WP would have some semblance of common sense and, at the very least, have another reporter write CIA related articles, but noooooo, lol.