Goss Resigns

Porter Goss is resigning his post as CIA chief.

It probably has something to do with this (From Time Magazine):

It's more than a bureaucratic battle. Ever since John Negroponte was appointed Director of National Intelligence a year ago and given the task of coordinating the nation's myriad spy agencies, he has been diluting the power and prestige of the best known of them all, the Central Intelligence Agency. From day one, he supplanted the CIA Director as the President's principal intelligence adviser, in charge of George W. Bush's daily briefing. Other changes followed, all originating in the law that created the DNI — and all traumatic for CIA fans. But now, in a little noticed move, Negroponte is signaling that he is moving still more responsibility from the CIA to his own office, including control over the analysis of terrorist groups and threats.

The CIA was badly in need of reform and it was a good move to start shrinking its power. This is one of the reasons that so many CIA spooks have been leaking to the media left and right. They are losing a very nasty bureaucratic turf war. Combined with their own political and/or ideological leanings, this is more than enough of a reason to leak. One of Goss's main jobs, as I understand it, was to fight this bureaucratic war, clean up the mess, and crackdown on the leakers.

It remains to be seen whether or not the agencies that replace Langley are any better.

(Hat tip: Reader Danielle for the CNN breaking news item, The Corner for the Time Magazine piece.)