Porter Goss' spooky demise

[kskiska]

Bush's CIA chief abruptly resigns under a shadow of alleged ties to a corrupt congressman and leaves a spy agency in chaos.

By Walter Shapiro

May. 06, 2006 | If George W. Bush were presiding over a normal administration, there would be nothing spooky about Porter Goss' abrupt resignation Friday afternoon. It would be painfully evident from Bush's forced rhetoric ("Porter's tenure at the CIA was one of transition") and Goss' comically overblown boasts ("The agency is on a very even keel, sailing well") that the CIA director was sacked for ineptitude.

As the normally mild-mannered Ivo Daalder, a former staff member at the National Security Council under Bill Clinton, put it, "Porter Goss was such an absolute disaster for the agency and our national security that his departure comes not a day too soon." Daalder, now at the Brookings Institution, castigated Goss for creating "a climate of fear and intimidation at the CIA that produced a reluctance to take risks, which is the last thing you want in an intelligence agency."

Normally under Bush, promoted-above-your-abilities-incompetence is not a firing offense unless, of course, you drown an entire city. True, Josh Bolten, the new White House chief of staff, has been trying to put a few new faces on the flight deck of the "Mission Accomplished" administration. These transitions -- like the long goodbye for White House spokesman Scott McClellan -- have been carefully orchestrated rather than cobbled together like this one, without even the slightest hint of a successor for Goss.

"If you believe the White House explanation that this is all part of Josh Bolten's reorganization, then this was done in a surprising fashion," said Rand Beers, a terrorism expert who served in four administrations before resigning from the Bush White House in early 2003. "This makes me believe that it's the cover story."

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2006/05/06/goss/

[TomInTib]

1. This gets more curious by the hour. The professionals are confounded

and the White House is dancing on marbles.

[Frustratedlady]

2. Another Example of GW's Inability To Hire Competent People

"the CIA director was sacked for ineptitude."

I doubt that will be the final verdict, but it is another example of how GW appoints those who are of his ilk. It must make him feel he's more intelligent than those beneath him. Isn't one of his qualities(?) that he rewards and stands by his friends? Helluva job, GW.

[Fovea]

3. Or, perhaps more critically

to fire incompetent ones.

[Elidor]

4. When has anyone in this clusterfuck admin EVER been sacked for ineptitude?

Unmitigated bullshit.