WP: WH "barraged" CIA with questions about officers' political affiliation

[Rose Siding]

via TPM

snip>
Yeah, I think David and Kevin have it just right. The Post buried the lede in its piece today on the continuing fall out from the firing of CIA officer Mary McCarthy.

Says the Post in the second to last graf ...

The White House also has recently barraged the agency with questions about the political affiliations of some of its senior intelligence officers, according to intelligence officials.

CIA officers don't work under the same civil service rules as most government employees. But I still don't think this sort of political purge activity is permitted.
....
The administration's response to the ills of the intelligence agencies has been to further politicize them, to put them under more reliable political control. And that's not surprising either since, from the White House perspective, the failures of the intelligence agencies weren't not getting it right on WMD and other issues. It was getting it more right and then wrong and then talking about what had happened to the press......

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008283.php

edited to correct link

[greekspeak]

1. Partisan politics are OK as long as you are a Repuke

Another delightful double standard. Every time the most trifling bits of Puke legislation fail, the dems are playing partisan politics....or hate Murka...or love the terraists. But to turn a government agency into the mouthpiece or sycophant of the Puke party is God's work...or a blow to terra...or real patriotism in action. And where are the congressional dems on this?

[RufusEarl]

2. I was just watching a piece on CSpan about this and other topics

But the rub was this! It appears that this admin want it's people in key positions, through out government for obvious reasons. What bothers me is the total comment to the republican party, and not the USA.

When Tom Delay resigned from congress a few weeks ago, he praised his party said he loved the republican party over everything else. He never said he loved his country, and thats the rub these people do not care about their country they only care about their party.

[DanCa]

3. A red and blue CIA

This is just what this country needs.

[dusmcj]

4. time to evict the stupid animals constituting this administration from ofc

before they damage this country for decades to come. Pen all the Greedy Old Pigs in together, and they can eat each other and solve our problem for us. No Pasaran.

[Rose Siding]

5. They're also screening for who has friends in the media

snip>
Even the agency's employment policies have changed: Applicants are now asked more aggressively whether they have any friends in the news media, several agency employees said.

[Rose Siding]

6. Froomkin picked it up, calling it "The Graph That Roared"

It's often said that you never know where you're going to find a front-page story in The Washington Post. Well, here's a corollary: You never know where you're going to find the biggest news in a front-page story.

In R. Jeffrey Smith and Dafna Linzer's 's front-pager in Sunday's Post on the firing of the CIA officer, the biggest news arguably comes in the second-to-last paragraph:

"The White House also has recently barraged the agency with questions about the political affiliations of some of its senior intelligence officers, according to intelligence officials."

Why do they want to know? What are they being told? What do they intend to do with such information? Have we gotten to a point where there are two different kinds of intelligence: Democratic and Republican? So many questions.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

[cantstandbush]

7. When will the CIA finally have enough? n/t

[RufusEarl]

9. They got Goss for a reason, and this is the reason!

The Republican party want to control everything, and information is the top priority. They know that party loyalty is everything and thats what's wrong. We need americans in those positions, not republicans.

[Rose Siding]

11. This is the fruit of a one party government

What's to stop them?

[leftchick]

8. wonderful nazification going on!

:grr:

[Supersedeas]

10. to further politicize intelligence -- ENTER Porter Goss