The Weekly Standard has been sounding apocalyptic notes the past few weeks, starting with Bill Kristol's suggestion that Bush doesn't believe his own doctrine anymore, and reading the departure of Porter Goss as another piece of evidence in support of that theory. I hasten to add that I have no idea who is correct, but I find Jack Kelly's take not only more pleasing, but more plausible. The Standard view is that Goss was the reformer, and his departure signals the triumph of the State Dept. mentality. Kelly suspects the opposite --that Hayden's appointment means Bush has decided the CIA can't be cleaned up and he's going to marginalize it.
[DNI] Negroponte and Goss reportedly quarreled over Negroponte's plan to move much of the CIA's analysis function to a joint center that would report directly to him. This would permit Negroponte to pluck the analysts that are worth a damn from the CIA, leaving the deadwood to moulder.
Currently Negroponte's deputy, Gen. Hayden was for five years head of the National Security Agency, where he established the NSA intercept program. The leak hunt will continue.
And Gen. Hayden likely will transfer to the Defense department responsibility for paramilitary operations, where it has always belonged. In short, the CIA under Gen. Hayden will shrink to the size warranted by its current performance, not its past pretensions.
That just sounds right. Bush, who so prizes loyalty, rewarding leakers? Hard to believe. Plus, if he was backing off aggressive tactics in the war on terror, would he have chosen the overseer of the wire-tapping program as his nominee? That seems likes picking a fight, not running from one.
