White House Seeks To Purge 'Disloyal' CIA Officers

November 15, 2004

At a time when the nation needs accurate, candid intelligence more than ever before, the White House penchant for politicizing our national security has left Americans less secure. This weekend, we learned that the White House has ordered CIA Director Porter Goss to purge intelligence officers perceived to be critical or disloyal to the president. According to a senior CIA official, the agency is planning to get rid of "liberals" and others who are perceived as "obstructing the president's agenda."

America's national security must trump partisan politics. The ongoing political tensions in the CIA threaten to disrupt the fight against terrorism. The White House alone is responsible for addressing these problems and the administration should take whatever steps are necessary to protect the public and bridge the divides in the intelligence community.

The intelligence community must be free to give candid advice to policymakers. By manipulating raw data and suppressing dissent, the administration has dangerously politicized the intelligence process. Vice President Cheney's interference with the CIA and other intelligence units paved the way for the unwarranted rush to war in Iraq and continued interference will only make matters worse going forward.

We need intelligence reform now. The intelligence structure that failed the nation before the 9/11 attacks, and then again before the Iraq war, remains in place today. The White House promised to reform intelligence, but has yet to force legislation in Congress and appears more interested in stacking the intelligence community with political hacks than in reforming it to protect the American public.