The top two officials in the CIA's clandestine service have resigned after confrontations with the agency's new leadership in an unusually public shake-up at the nation's spy service.
The CIA's Deputy Director for Operations Stephen Kappes and his immediate deputy, Michael Sulick, told colleagues at a morning meeting that they are leaving the agency. It's unclear if they resigned or were asked to leave.
CIA Director Porter Goss, who took the agency's helm in late September, thanked Kappes and Sulick for their service in a statement released Monday evening.
"The legacy that both officers leave behind them is one of dedication to the covert mission of this agency," Goss said.
Both men were part of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, or clandestine service, which is responsible for covert operations around the globe.
Former agency officials said there are concerns that some officers in the CIA's counterterrorist center, which is under the operations directorate, and elsewhere may be asked to resign, or may be told that they no longer have a future at the agency.
"It is very fair to say there is tremendous turmoil in the middle ranks of the clandestine service today," said Vince Cannistraro, former CIA counterterrorism chief. "There may be eight people pushed out."
Signals from elsewhere pointed to internal turmoil.
Current agency officials are not allowed to talk with the media without permission, but have been in touch with former intelligence officials. Speaking on condition of anonymity, former officials described intense friction within the agency as Goss gets settled.
A clandestine officer in the 1960s but more recently a Republican congressman, Goss promised to be a reformer during his confirmation hearings.
Goss brought with him four staff members from the House Intelligence Committee, which he led for nearly eight years ending in August. Since then, Kappes and Sulick have been involved in heated debates -- some have described them as feuds -- with those senior aides to Goss.
Just what is going on inside the CIA is a matter of perspective.
To some, Goss was brought in to make much-needed changes to the agency that came under fire for shortfalls leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks and the flawed prewar intelligence on Iraq. They say Goss is making personnel changes, as any incoming director would.
To others, Goss' aides are employing a brusque management style that is alienating career officials with decades of experience.
Kappes has been with the agency for 23 years and has extensive experience in the Middle East. A former senior intelligence official credited Kappes with being "principally responsible" for the operation that resulted in Libya's decision to get rid of its weapons of mass destruction.
Sulick has also had a lengthy career with multiple overseas assignments. Before becoming Kappes' deputy, he headed the agency's counterintelligence division.
