Brooks Piles On

Sigh. Now add David Brooks to the chorus of smart people on Porter Goss's side of the CIA fight.

The Smart Theory is that this is a high-minded conflict about the future organization of the CIA. Maybe it is. But from the information on the table, it still looks to me like your typical Washington bureaucratic fight. And again, the fact that it is Goss's aide--not Goss himself--who is rubbing people the wrong way suggests that either (1) Goss's people are feeling their oats out at Langley, or (2) if this is a principled fight, Goss is waging it by proxy and trying to make the CIA career people's lives unpleasant, instead of just forging ahead and changing the things he wants changed. If you've spent any time in an office environment, surely you've seen this sort of passive-agressive warfare waged by the underlings who serve new management.

In sum: I remain unconvinced! (But I am going a bit wobbly.)