Bringing Home The Bacon At The CIA Bush's CIA director, Porter Goss, is currently engaged in a campaign to ideologically purify the CIA. As a result of this quest, top CIA officials are resigning left and right, leaving America less safe, according to many within the organization. I can't say I'm surprised that the administration would put politics above security, but I was suprised to realize Bush's nominee for the no.3 spot at the CIA was a bacon thief! The Washington Post's Dana Priest and Walter Pincus provide a must-read look inside the agency, and what their reporting reveals is nothing short of astounding. Here are some excerpts: The deputy director of the CIA resigned yesterday after a series of confrontations over the past week between senior operations officials and CIA Director Porter J. Goss's new chief of staff that have left the agency in turmoil, according to several current and former CIA officials. John E. McLaughlin, a 32-year CIA veteran who was acting director for two months this summer until Goss took over, resigned after warning Goss that his top aide, former Capitol Hill staff member Patrick Murray, was treating senior officials disrespectfully and risked widespread resignations, the officials said. ...Michael V. Kostiw, who was Goss's first choice for executive director -- the agency's third-ranking official -- withdrew his name after The Washington Post reported that he had left the agency 20 years ago after having been arrested for stealing a package of bacon. It doesn't matter to the Bush regime if you have a chequered past--as long as your ideology is pure, they'll ignore the rap sheet. Michael V. Kostiw may not be a great CIA agent, but he sure makes a mean bacon cheeseburger. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46580-2004Nov12_2.html