Bloodless Coup

More on the CIA Purge, and the Coming Purge at State

From Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay:

Three senior administration officials charged that Goss and his aides are carrying out a "White House-directed purge." One said it appears to be directed at "everybody who said there was no connection between Iraq and al-Qaida and everybody who they think leaked information that undercut what the administration was claiming ...

Cheney, they said, was particularly angered by reports, first carried by Knight Ridder, that the CIA had been unable to find any conclusive evidence tying Saddam's regime to Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Cheney had ordered the CIA to take another look at possible links among Saddam, Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden, the official said, and was angered when a CIA briefer told him the results of the inquiry. "This is a classic case of shooting the messenger," said one senior official. "Unfortunately, they're the same messengers we're counting on to warn us of the next al-Qaida attack."

As to the State Department: "They're going to purge the State Department," said one of the senior officials, adding that he'd heard White House officials say: "The State Department doesn't get it. They're not on the president's message."

And Glenn Kessler and Thomas Ricks note that State's employees are going to be less than thrilled with their new top brass: "State Department officials dislike her intensely because they love Powell and believe her staff demeaned the State Department," said one former State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he frequently interacts with Rice."

So while there might be an unheard of level of agreement at the top of the decision-making process, it looks like State may soon be riddled with internal divisions. Great. It'll look like the Defense Department has looked for the last four years. That's not going to be pretty.