GOP lawmakers back new CIA director
Resignations raise concerns about possible agency upheaval
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Top Republican lawmakers voiced support for new CIA Director Porter Goss on Sunday after the resignations of at least two top officials raised questions about a possible upheaval in the agency.
In August, President Bush tapped Goss, a former CIA officer and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, to lead the agency. During his confirmation hearings, Goss pledged to apply "tough love" to the CIA.
At least two top officials announced their departures in the past week, and other reports indicate that more shakeups are on the way at the CIA. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said such turnover was to be expected as new leadership takes over.
"The aggressiveness with which we will continue to fight the war on terror for freedom and liberty and democracy throughout the world will not be affected in any way by any sort of personnel changes here or any sort of reorganization of the intelligence functions of entities here," said Frist, a Republican from Tennessee.
But critics suggest Goss may be doing more harm than good with his efforts to reshape the nation's flagship spy agency. California Rep. Jane Harman, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, accused Goss of bringing a "highly partisan, inexperienced staff" with him when he took office in September.
"The agency seems in free-fall in Washington, and that is a very, very bad omen in the middle of a war," Harman said.
Deputy Director John McLaughlin, who ran the agency after Director George Tenet resigned earlier this year, announced his retirement Friday. He said he was leaving for personal reasons.
Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA's search for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, quit Thursday. The 22-year CIA veteran had criticized the agency's handling of the war on terrorism in a recent book, "Imperial Hubris," published under the pen name "Anonymous."
Scheuer said he would continue speaking out "in the hope of producing a more substantive debate than what has heretofore occurred." He was scheduled to appear on the CBS News program "60 Minutes" on Sunday.
White House official denies 'purge'
And the status of Steven Kappes, the agency's deputy director for operations, was unclear Sunday.
The Washington Post reported Saturday that Kappes had submitted his resignation, but neither CIA nor White House officials would comment on that report.
And Newsday reported Sunday that the Bush administration plans to get rid of all CIA officers considered "disloyal" to the president. Citing a former senior CIA official, the newspaper reported that Goss was told to remove "people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."
A White House official told the newspaper that suggestions of a "purge" were inaccurate.
Harman said Goss has the right to make changes at the spy agency, but he needs "a management team in place that can help achieve objectives."
"To make those changes effectively, he has to do them with an experienced staff, and he doesn't have one," Harman said. "Many of us worked with that staff in the House. Frankly, on both sides of the aisle in our committee, we were happy to see them go."
Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, called the CIA "a dysfunctional agency, and in some ways a rogue agency" that needed to be reformed. He accused some CIA insiders of leaking information to damage President Bush politically in the months before the election.
"Porter Goss is on the right track," McCain said on ABC's "This Week." "He is being savaged by these people that want the status quo, and the status quo is not satisfactory."
The CIA "is not providing the intelligence information necessary for the president to conduct the war on terror," he said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said the CIA "failed this country" with incorrect assessments of Iraq's weapons programs before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
"I'm not worried about hurting people's feelings," said Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "I want to stand behind those who work hard. But if you got it wrong, you need to be dealt with."
Elaine Quijano contributed to this report.
