Goss, day two

It still seems to be a mystery as to why Porter Goss resigned so quickly.

The Carpetbagger provided a quick look this morning:

* The NYT said Goss' departure "was hastened because a recent inquiry by the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board had found that current and former agency officers were sharply critical of Mr. Goss's leadership." It added that the resignation "occurs amid an investigation into the activities of the executive director of the agency, Kyle Foggo, a longtime agency official whom Mr. Goss elevated to the senior post."

* The LAT said Goss was forced out by "Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, whose growing disenchantment with the CIA director was shared by members of President Bush's intelligence advisory board."

* The WaPo reported that Bush "lost confidence in Goss…almost from the beginning and decided months ago to replace him." "There has been an open conversation for a few weeks, through Negroponte, with the acknowledgment of the president" about replacing Goss, said a senior White House official who discussed the internal
deliberations on the condition of anonymity. The Post added that Negroponte told Goss in April to prepare to leave by May.

* The Boston Globe said "theories swirled" to explain the sudden departure, but "people close to the intelligence community felt that the weight of bureaucratic infighting — within the agency and with Negroponte's office — had finally prompted Goss to give up."

* The Washington Times alluded to "hookergate," but said it was unrelated to the resignation: "A senior administration official, who asked not to be named, said yesterday that Mr. Goss' resignation was not linked in any way to the Foggo or Cunningham investigations. The official said the White House did an extensive check and was assured that Mr. Goss is not under suspicion."

* Similarly, Knight Ridder noted the prostitutes, but quoted CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano saying Goss' resignation wasn't linked to the scandal.

* The New York Daily News offered the most salacious lead, telling readers, "CIA Director Porter Goss abruptly resigned yesterday amid allegations that he and a top aide may have attended Watergate poker parties where bribes and prostitutes were provided to a corrupt congressman."

Laura Rozen offered this observation:

Does something about this story line that Goss suddenly left because of his long-standing tension with Negroponte, his fraternity brother from Yale, over Goss fighting to hold CIA turf seem a bit canned to you?

The main question is why Goss's departure suddenly became a matter of the deepest urgency yesterday.

Think back to yesterday morning. The top news after the Patrick Kennedy crash was that Bush's poll numbers were at an all time low, and that he was starting to see a real erosion of support from conservatives. Gas prices and immigration and Iraq. So Bush gets briefed by his staff that day, and decides: hey, let's fire Porter Goss. He's killing morale at the Agency. He's just seen as far too political. And John Negroponte is threatening to quit if he stays. He's given me an absolute ultimatum. Let's get this out today.

Come on. That's just not how this White House has responded to these sorts of tensions in the past. They never move fast. They withstand criticism of appointments for months. They resist criticisms of unpopular agency heads for weeks (Michael "heckuva job" Brown), months (Snow), years (Rumsfeld). Think how much speculation there was in the press before Card's and McClellan's announced retirements, and how warm and friendly were those departures. It's hard not to believe that something moved very quickly on the radar this week that prompted an unusually quick decision. One that took a lot of people who would normally have been advised by surprise. (It's my understanding that the heads of Congressional intel committees were not informed in advance).

I think Joe, at AMERICAblog, said it best:

No one gets fired in the Bush Administration for incompetence. There wouldn't be anyone left if that was the standard.