Personnel purge foreseen at CIA
New director Porter Goss has placed at least four former Republican congressional staff members in top positions and has given them powers over personnel and restructuring.
Current and former U.S. intelligence officials have said that new CIA Director Porter Goss appears set to conduct a purge of the agency's Directorate of Operations after the Nov. 2 election, Knight Ridder news service reported Thursday.
Goss has placed at least four former Republican congressional staff members in top CIA positions and has given them powers over personnel and restructuring, the officials said.
One of Goss' aides has been "going around telling people they are to fire 80 to 90 people" in the Directorate of Operations, which manages clandestine intelligence activities, a former intelligence official said.
A CIA spokesman, though, said that Goss had yet to make any decisions on restructuring, according to Knight Ridder.
"These people ought to be given a little time. It's been less than a month since he's been sworn in. That goes for some of the people he has brought with him," the spokesman said.