CIA chief quiet on abrupt departure

WASHINGTON - Porter Goss said today his reasons for abruptly resigning as CIA chief after less than two years would remain a mystery, while the White House denied that US President George W Bush had lost confidence in him.

As Goss left his home on his way to give a commencement address in Ohio, he declined to explain his resignation, telling CNN that "it's one of those mysteries".

Goss had come under fire inside and outside the agency during a difficult tenure that followed intelligence lapses over Iraq and the September 11 attacks on the United States. Several career intelligence officers left after clashes.

The White House denied a report in the Washington Post that cited senior administration officials as saying that Bush had lost confidence in Goss and had decided to replace him months ago.

"Reports that the president had lost confidence in Porter Goss are categorically untrue," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said as Bush flew to Oklahoma State University to deliver a commencement address.

"Porter Goss played a key role in keeping the focus on winning the war on terror and helped transform the agency to meet the challenging times we're living in and the times ahead," she said.

Congressional aides have described growing talk in recent days about unhappiness with Goss, not only with his leadership, but also with reports of connections between CIA executive director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo and a bribery scandal that led to the jailing of former California Rep Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

The Washington Post reported that Foggo, whom Goss elevated to the senior post, had attended poker games with a military contractor linked to the Cunningham case.

The CIA inspector-general has been investigating Foggo, and the newspaper said the probe includes whether he arranged any contracts for the contractor. The Post also reported that Foggo told colleagues he planned to resign next week and he has denied any impropriety.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment.

Air Force Gen Michael Hayden, principal deputy director of national intelligence, is the leading candidate to replace Goss, according to reports from The New York Times, CNN and Time magazine.

Wisconsin Democrat Sen Russ Feingold criticized the possible pick of Hayden, arguing he ran and defended a secret programme to wiretap phone conversations of US citizens without court authorisation and also did not inform Congress about it.

"I will expect any nominee for this position to be committed to the rule of law and respectful of Congress' oversight responsibility," Feingold said in a statement.

Perino declined to comment on a replacement but said "it certainly will be soon."

The CIA had lost clout when it fell under a director of national intelligence created as part of reforms in response to the intelligence failures.

Tensions between Goss and national intelligence director John Negroponte arose as the new arm sought to assert itself over the CIA, an administration official said on Friday.

Perino said Goss had made "significant steps" to help integrate the CIA into the new structure under Negroponte.

"Then there was a collective agreement that now would be a time we could have a new CIA director come in to take the ball and move the agency forward from here," she said.

- REUTERS