Behind CIA's personnel changes

A public war between a president and his intelligence arm is never good news. But with the war against the insurgency in Iraq at a crucial juncture, and with Osama bin Laden making his ominous presence known, it is perhaps the worst of times for the Bush administration and its spies to be at odds.

Still, government officials and outside experts say, the long-simmering tensions between the White House and Central Intelligence Agency are erupting into an unseemly period of recriminations and resignations.

Most of the team that led CIA covert operations overseas have left government service, several after former Rep. Porter Goss (R) of Florida - also a former CIA case officer - took the helm seven weeks ago with a promise to revamp the less-than-productive foreign spy program.

Although mass departures aren't unheard of at the CIA, former and current intelligence officials say they haven't seen this level of discontent within the bowels of the agency for at least 25 years. And they worry what impact this may have on the United States' global war on terror.

Underlying the tensions are both the heavy criticism the agency has taken since Sept. 11 for intelligence failures and the reforms that the White House and Congress have mandate to fix them. Even more pointed at the moment is the way the reform process is being handled by Mr. Goss and the team he brought with him from the House Intelligence Committee. Many inside the agency blame him with acting too quickly and indelicately.

"If they want to make this thing work, they've got to convince these senior officials that change is a good thing and convince them to help," says Art Hulnick, a former senior intelligence official who lived through a similar situation between the CIA and Carter administration when Stansfield Turner, then director of the CIA, was charged with reforming the spy program. "But if they do it by wielding a broad sword, cutting off the heads of people who can help them, then it will fail."

On Monday, Stephen Kappes, deputy director of clandestine services, quit, as did associate deputy director of operations Michael Sulick. On Friday, the agency's No. 2, John McLaughlin, a 32-year veteran analyst and former acting director, resigned. And earlier this summer, director George Tenet left, followed by James Pavitt, the man who led the agency's day-to-day counterterrorism activities.

Mr. McLaughlin's retirement was not unexpected. But the departure of Mr. Kappes is considered a blow to the Goss team's reforms, and is reportedly the direct result of a clash with Patrick Murphy, Goss's chief of staff.

"The perception abroad is there is a lot of turmoil at senior levels," says Mike Scheuer, a senior counter terror official who left the agency this past Friday because he disagrees with the way the administration is handling the war on terror. "The perception in the building [CIA headquarters] is that there are these kinds of failed agency officers returning to exact their revenge from people who've made it in the agency."

Both McLaughlin and Kappes were well-liked and respected among the workforce, Mr. Scheuer and other former and current intelligence officials say.

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