Former CIA Director Porter Goss: Morale CIA Low
Former CIA director Porter Goss says that morale at the CIA has been shaken to its foundation by the Obama administration’s release of secret memos and talks about possibly prosecutions of agents and officials who used or condoned torture.
“Circuses are not new in Washington, and I can see preparations being made for tents from the Capitol straight down Pennsylvania Avenue. The CIA has been pulled into the center ring before. The result this time will be the same: a hollowed-out service of diminished capabilities. After Sept. 11, the general outcry was, ‘Why don’t we have better overseas capabilities?’ I fear that in the years to come this refrain will be heard again: once a threat — or God forbid, another successful attack — captures our attention and sends the pendulum swinging back,” Goss said.
“There is only one person who can shut down this dangerous show: President Obama. Unfortunately, much of the damage to our capabilities has already been done. It is certainly not trust that is fostered when intelligence officers are told one day ‘I have your back’ only to learn a day later that a knife is being held to it. After the events of this week, morale at the CIA has been shaken to its foundation,” he added.
“We must not forget: Our intelligence allies overseas view our inability to maintain secrecy as a reason to question our worthiness as a partner. These allies have been vital in almost every capture of a terrorist.”
Obama overplayed his hand. He thought he could release the memos without calling for an investigation into the matter, and possibly bringing some of those involved in torture to justice. Sadly for him, however, the liberal base was not satisfied with the release of the memos: they demanded more blood.
The new president had two choices: tell them no investigation would be opened – with the risk of alienating his most passionate supporters and possibly causing a civil war in the Democratic Party – or leaving the door open to it, thereby demoralizing the CIA.
He chose the latter option.
We will now have to wait and see whether an investigation will indeed be launched. If it will, you can expect former Vice President Dick Cheney to come out swinging even more ferocious than he has done thus far. Launching an investigation will not cause a civil war in the Democratic Party, but it will cause a tremendous battle between conservatives and liberals – between the past and present administrations – and it will demoralize the CIA tremendously, which may very well turn against the 44th president.
To sum up: Obama made a big, potentially tragic mistake.
Weren’t you just saying the other day that Obama shouldn’t have said anything at all and let Justice do its work? How can he stop any investigation without saying something?
It’s basically a damned if he did, damned if he doesn’t decision. If he promotes or doesn’t do anything about an investigation, he’ll get ire from the right. If he tries to stop an investigation, he’ll get ire from the left.
“It’s basically a damned if he did, damned if he doesn’t decision. If he promotes or doesn’t do anything about an investigation, he’ll get ire from the right. If he tries to stop an investigation, he’ll get ire from the left.”
And if he hadn’t placed his weight where it didn’t belong, he’d get ire from both sides while deserving none.
That’s his mistake – unintended consequences for doing the right thing flawlessly is nothing you can do anything about. He did the right thing, but not flawlessly.
I print and distribute a monthly political report to interested indivduals in and around Encinitas, CA.
I request permission to print and distribute a copy of “Former CIA Director Porter Goss: Morale CIA Low” with my report on April. If permission is granted I will attribute Poli Gazette and Michael van der Galien. Sincerely, Raymond A. Rowe.
Let’s get some perspective here. Morale has been low at the CIA long prior to this for many reasons, not the least of which was budget slashing under Clinton. Porter Goss was brought in by Bush in a massive post-911 reorganization (working under Negroponte) that stripped the CIA of its intelligence leadership role after several Congress-ordered reports blamed the CIA for failing to detect 911 warnings and its erring assessment of Iraq’s WMD. By most measurements, Goss failed to turn the CIA around (including morale). He alienated top CIA personnel and setting off a brain-drain, including the resignation of his own second in command who left after a year, telling senators in a closed-door hearing that he had lost confidence in Goss’s leadership. Finally, even Bush had enough and pushed Goss out the door, this despite the fact Goss had been a Bush partisan. So let’s be honest here: Goss has an agenda and is in the position now, like Cheney, of defending his legacy, if not more.
The CIA has low morale? This is Obama’s fault?
If the author of this piece had any knowledge of the history of the CIA, he would not be terribly sympathetic. Many would argue that the CIA should be disbanded. Their spectacular ineptness is legendary. Their massive lawbreaking is only exceeded by their failures. Since the so-called “Cold War”, they can’t even find enough people who speak Farsi, Arabic and other Middle Eastern languages to conduct real intelligence. Read Robert Baer and other former CIA agents’ books. The organization is in shambles, and now we find out they hired contractors to torture, conducted torture and organized the “Torture Taxi.”
To what ends? What good intelligence did we get? What trials can take place? We can’t even try KSM or Abudayah or anyone else we tortured. We can’t even get the truth, thanks to the complicit and horrible leadership and spectacular stupidity of the CIA.
And we’re supposed to be worried about their MORALE? Please.