CIA Director Leon Panetta Wednesday announced a series of leadership changes at the agency. They include the retirement of Deputy Director Stephen Kappes, who was pushed out of the agency during a tumultuous period five years ago only to return as the agency's No. 2 official in 2006. Kappes plans to leave in May, Panetta said.
"Throughout his life, Steve has put the needs of others first, as he did in returning to the CIA in the summer of 2006," Panetta said in a memo to agency employees. "He hadn't planned on so lengthy a stay this time around. So when he told me a few months ago that it was time for him to move on, I understood. Steve has, to put it simply, more than met the highest standards of duty to the nation."
Kappes left the CIA in 2005 under duress after clashing with then-CIA Director Porter Goss, a former House Intelligence Committee chairman appointed to the agency by President George W. Bush. Resignations and turmoil followed Kappes' departure, the result of battles between veteran CIA officials and Goss, who eventually stepped down.
In the announcement, Panetta said Michael Morell has assumed the deputy director post. Morrell, a 30-year CIA employee, was head of the Directorate of Intelligence, where he spent much of his career, Panetta said.
Fran Moore, who joined the agency in 1983, will take over as director for intelligence, he added.