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Two more top CIA officials resign
Two more top officials at the CIA's clandestine unit are retiring in the latest sign of upheaval in the agency under its new director Porter Goss, The New York Times reported on Thursday. The two officials have headed operations in Europe and the Far East and were in the highest level of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, the powerful unit that recruits foreign spies and conducts covert operations overseas, the newspaper reported. The newspaper quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying that there would be no public announcement on the retirement of the two chiefs and that neither could be identified because they were working under cover. A former intelligence official described the two as "very senior guys" who were stepping down because they did not feel comfortable with new management, The New York Times reported. A spokesman for the CIA was not immediately available for comment. The clandestine unit's chief, Stephen Kappes, and his deputy, Michael Sulick, resigned last week. Intelligence sources said the two officials stepped down after clashing with Goss's chief of staff. Goss took charge in September with a mandate to reform the spy agency which has been under fire for intelligence failures related to the Sept. 11 attacks and flawed prewar reports that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. President George W. Bush last week ordered the CIA director to increase by 50 percent the number of intelligence analysts and officers in the clandestine unit as part of a push to strengthen U.S. intelligence operations. |
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