C.I.A. Churning Continues as 2 Top Officials Resign
Published: November 16, 2004
(Page 2 of 2)
"There's no question when a new leader comes into an organization,
there are adjustments made, and people leave," Mr. Hagel said in a
telephone interview. But he added: "We have to be careful here that we
don't lose an entire top tier of senior experienced C.I.A. operatives
and managers. I've got some questions why these people have left, how
many more are going to leave, and whether it's a personality conflict
or a policy conflict. If we find ourselves without a senior group of
C.I.A. hands, that would certainly not enhance American security and
might undermine our security."
Mr. Hagel said that he and other members of the Senate Intelligence
Committee would seek answers to those questions in closed meetings this
week. Mr. Kappes and Mr. Sulick threatened to resign last week
after clashes with Patrick Murray, a former House Republican official
who is Mr. Goss's chief of staff and whom they regarded as undermining
their authority, former intelligence officials said. The men agreed to
reconsider their decision over the weekend, intelligence officials
said, but there was no indication that either Mr. Goss or the White
House had tried to persuade them to stay on. Even before those
clashes, Mr. Goss had begun to sound out the Counterterrorism Center
chief and other candidates to take over the clandestine service, former
intelligence officials said. The departures will leave Jami A.
Miscik, the deputy director for intelligence, and Donald M. Kerr, the
deputy director for science and technology, as the highest-ranking
members still in place from the team of George J. Tenet, who stepped
down as director of central intelligence in July. The C.I.A.
said that Mr. Kappes and Mr. Sulick planned to retire, but would first
join the agency's Career Transition Program. In that program, they will
join John E. McLaughlin, the deputy director of central intelligence,
who announced his resignation on Friday, effective Dec. 2, and at least
four other senior officials who held high-level posts under Mr. Tenet.
A. B. Krongard, the No. 3 official under Mr. Tenet, was dismissed in
September by Mr. Goss. As deputy director for operations, Mr.
Kappes had been in charge of the agency's spying and other covert
operations worldwide. He is a former marine who spent more than 20
years at the C.I.A., serving as station chief in Moscow and a Middle
Eastern capital. Before assuming the post in August, when he succeeded
James L. Pavitt, Mr. Kappes was Mr. Pavitt's principal deputy.
Mr. Sulick had been associate deputy for counterintelligence under Mr.
Pavitt, and moved up to become Mr. Kappes's principal deputy. In
an interview, Ms. Harman, the Congressional Democrat, said that she
believed Mr. Goss had placed too much authority in a small cadre of
former House Republican aides, including Mr. Murray, whom the new
intelligence chief has installed as senior advisers. "I don't begrudge
him the right to make changes,'' Ms. Harman said. "I don't begrudge him
the right to bring some of his own people to the agency. What I'm
criticizing is that he has a all-new management team that has a
reputation as partisan and inexperienced, and it is clearly generating
an enormous reaction that is not beneficial to the agency and to the
war on terrorism.'' Senator Bob Graham of Florida, a Democrat
who is close to Mr. Goss, said in a separate interview that Mr. Goss
was "driven by the right motivations'' in overhauling the agency's top
management. "There are lots of problems within the intelligence
agencies, and those are not going to be solved by papering them over
and without taking the bold steps necessary.'' But Senator John
D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the
Intelligence Committee, issued a statement that called on Mr. Goss to
"take immediate steps to stabilize the situation at the C.I.A.'' "There
is no doubt that changes needed to take place at the C.I.A., and people
should be held accountable for past failures,'' Mr. Rockefeller said in
the statement. "However, the departure of highly respected and
competent individuals at such a crucial time is a grave concern.'' He
added: "The C.I.A. workforce must understand where he is taking the
agency and why, and he must provide some explanation for this rash of
departures among senior officials."
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