Secret Agent Man - the Goss Gambit (Newsweek)

[TacticalPeek]

Secret Agent Man

Porter Goss is not known for his sharp elbows. So why is the ex-spook suddenly lashing out? Untangling Langley's politics.

By Michael Hirsh, Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek


July 5 issue - Porter J. Goss of Hotchkiss and Yale has long been seen as a model of patrician restraint on Capitol Hill. After 9/11, when other Republicans in charge of overseeing intelligence condemned CIA Director George Tenet, Goss stayed nimbly above the fray. "I'm not going to fall for the bait of getting into the political discussion," the chairman of the House intelligence committee, who served in the CIA's clandestine service for a decade, once said. So many a bushy eyebrow was raised when Goss interrupted a House debate on a new intelligence bill?typically a fairly genteel, not-so-partisan affair?with a classic political stunt last week. Goss held up a sign with a 1977 quote from John Kerry that argued for intel-budget cuts. "I got books full of that stuff," Goss said. "The Democratic Party did not support the intelligence community." When Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks fired back, pointing out that Dick Cheney was one of the biggest defense cutters of the "peace dividend" '90s, Goss somewhat sheepishly put the sign away. He hadn't meant to be "combative," he said.

The same week the man long known as a CIA loyalist (Goss once started a business with two former agency friends) took aim at his old spook pals. Goss put his name atop a scathing critique of the agency: the CIA, his House committee report said, has "been ignoring its core mission activities" and the clandestine service is on its way to being "a stilted bureaucracy incapable of even the slightest bit of success." Even some Democrats said that was over the top. SNIP

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Hard to believe that Goss is that stupid. Even if he gets the nod now, he would voluntarily, or under pressure, offer Kerry his resignation next January. He seems to be giving Kerry reasons to accept it with gusto. OTOH, I guess that's cool with me.

[diplomats]

1. I wonder if this has something to do with the Plame investigation

Perhaps the WH wants Goss at the helm of the CIA to launch an attack on Tenet when it's revealed he's been a major figure cooperating with Fitzgerald.

[Racenut20]

2. If you have read "The Hunting of the President"

You wouldn't be paying heed or quoting Micheal Isikoff. He is a total right wing Clinton hating puppet of Richard Mellon Scaife, Ted Olsen, and all the rest.

[UTUSN]

3. This GOSS Came Across as a Total Dweeb in F911

and WOOLSEY was one of those pumping on cable last week that GOSS would be "easily confirmed".