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| Hayden seeks to distinguish himself from Goss |
| 2006-05-22 |
| Porter J. Goss, who was forced aside as CIA director, owns a home in Florida's wealthy, waterfront community of Sanibel and is fond of sailing metaphors. In meetings with visitors at the CIA, he sometimes described himself as a ship's captain coasting in calm seas. Two weeks ago, when he was summoned to the Oval Office and told that he would be resigning after what others viewed as a rather choppy 18-month tenure, Goss once again referred to still waters. "I believe the agency is on a very even keel; it's sailing well," he told President Bush. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, an Air Force man, not a sailor, borrowed the nautical metaphor nonetheless when senators asked him Thursday to name his first priority if he becomes Goss's successor. His answer turned Goss's assessment on its head. "I think most important is to just get the agency on an even keel, just settle things down," Hayden said. In more than six hours of questioning during his confirmation hearing last week, the four-star general and veteran intelligence officer spent much of his time framing himself as the anti-Goss. The strategy seemed designed to restore confidence at the CIA, where veteran officers revolted against what they saw as Goss's distant leadership and partisan staff. Plagued by infighting and low morale, more than three dozen intelligence experts, many with expertise in al-Qaeda, the Middle East and Arabic, chose to leave the CIA rather than continue their work for Goss. Some openly complained to Congress that under Goss the agency seemed adrift at wartime. In his opening statement, Hayden paid tribute to Goss, noting his years of public service as a CIA case officer and then a Republican congressman. Calling Goss a "friend," Hayden said he was "not going out, you know, there repudiating him or what he was trying to do." But as he went on, Hayden seemed to highlight the ways in which his style and priorities would differ from Goss's. He talked about spending time walking the halls at Langley, "just getting around and seeing and being seen." That kind of schmoozing was a hallmark of George J. Tenet, the longest-serving CIA director until his resignation in 2004. Tenet was beloved by agency employees for popping into offices, bouncing a basketball down the halls and having an uncanny knack for remembering people's names. Goss, by contrast, preferred to spend his hours behind a desk, ate lunch in his office and attended fewer meetings. Staff said they experienced little interaction with him and began to consider him distant and unavailable. Hayden's sharpest break with Goss came in his choice of deputy. The first senior official to depart during Goss's tenure was Stephen R. Kappes, deputy director of the clandestine service, who clashed with Goss's chief of staff. Kappes's departure marked the beginning of an exodus of top officials. But Goss allies told reporters and Congress members the agency was better off without them, asserting that the CIA needed change and could not achieve it with the old guard in place. With Goss gone, Kappes appears set to return as Hayden's deputy. "When I did the Rolodex check around the community about Steve, when I first became aware that I may be coming to this job . . . they were almost universally positive that this is a guy who knows the business," Hayden said Thursday. Goss had surrounded himself with mid-level managers and GOP aides he brought with him from the Hill. His first choice for executive director had to step aside after it became known that he had a shoplifting record. His second choice is under federal investigation as part of a widening government corruption and bribery scandal. Hayden, who is known for diplomacy, was unusually blunt about the need to bring professionalism back to the agency's leadership. "You get a lot more authority when the workforce doesn't think it's amateur hour on the top floor. You get a lot more authority when you've got somebody welded to your hip whom everybody unarguably respects as someone who knows the business. My sense is, with someone like Steve at my side, the ability to make hard turns is increased, not decreased." One of the last things Goss did in his job was fire a veteran intelligence officer 10 days before she had completed a retirement course. Mary McCarthy, who worked in the CIA Inspector General's Office, was dismissed after acknowledging unauthorized contacts with reporters, including from The Washington Post. Goss had made leak investigations a priority and told Congress he wanted to see reporters hauled before grand juries and forced to reveal the names of their confidential sources. The aggressive stance was unpopular within the agency. Officers felt the atmosphere had turned to one of intimidation and fear, and many were repeatedly forced to take polygraphs to prove their innocence. But the move was championed by some congressional Republicans, including Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), who have suggested that the CIA is home to too many anti-Bush officers. When asked how he would handle news media leaks, Hayden said he admired Goss "for the action he took with regard to this last round of unauthorized disclosures." But, he added: "That is not to say that all circumstances in the future would demand the same kind of response." Hayden was pushed to explain why Goss was abruptly forced to resign earlier this month. Hayden gave Goss credit for coming into the agency during a great transformation, when the intelligence community was undergoing reform after the failings of Sept. 11, 2001, and the Iraq war. But he struggled to explain why the agency needed better leadership after Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) described Goss as having been a good choice for the job. "I'm not Porter," Hayden said finally. "I'm different from him. I'll probably end up doing some things differently." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Perhaps he was frugal, and invested his savings cleverly in the stock market, Danielle. Mr. Wife has a great uncle who turned a steel worker's salary into several millions in the stock market. All of which the dear man will donate to charities when he dies. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-05-22 13:22 |
| #1 What was Goss' small family business that provided him with such a good income he lived in Sanibel? |
| Posted by: Danielle 2006-05-22 11:21 |