. . . A new White House memo excludes CIA director Porter Goss from National Security Council meetings. The biggest changes in Washington often come about with just a few strokes of the pen. And so a dry, one-page internal memo quietly issued by the White House is being viewed as a kind of eulogy for the once mighty Central Intelligence Agency.
[. . .]
It's the latest evidence that Negroponte is consolidating his power as the nation's intelligence czar. The May 2 memo, obtained by TIME and also reported late last week by GovWatch.com, states that "effective immediately," Negroponte will participate in meetings of the NSC and its domestic counterpart, the Homeland Security Council (HSC). Meanwhile, CIA Director Porter Goss "will attend NSC and HSC meetings at the direction of the President."
That's the polite Beltway equivalent of saying, "Don't call us. We'll call you."
[. . .]
So, even though Bush's lackey, Porter Goss, is running the show over at Langley, it's obvious the (p)resident's closest advisors (Rove, Card, Cheney) don't want any objective assessments to sneak into the White House, even from the people from whom it's required. It also puts one more layer of bureaucracy between the Agency and the end-users of its product. I wonder how much editing is done between Langley and 1600 and if any of the original context remains.
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