MOSCOW, (Gennady Yevstafyev for RIA Novosti)
Air Force General Michael Hayden has been sworn in as CIA director and, unlike his predecessor, also as first deputy of John Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence. This signifies the subordinate position of the once unquestionable authority in the U.S. intelligence community.
But the most interesting development is the appearance of a striking figure in the new CIA leadership. When the now retired CIA director Porter Goss started a purge several years ago, he dismissed quite a few top professionals. Analysts said it looked very much like personal revenge against those who had stood in his way when he was an undercover operative and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
One of the "victims" was DDO Stephen Kappes, a former Moscow station chief who is poised to return to the CIA's No. 2 post now. He will most likely bring in some former "victims", above all his successor in Moscow, Michael Sulick. This will renew power struggle within the CIA, the quest for a correct answer to the "Who is to blame" in Iraq question, and more heads will roll.
Kappes' return provoked mixed reactions. Democrats in U.S. Congress hailed his return as the savior of the sinking CIA ship.
Kappes has an impressive service record. He played a key role in getting Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi to give up his weapons of mass destruction program, which put the spotlight on the scale of illegal operations of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. The "father" of the Pakistani nuclear bomb exploited the favorable attitude of the national leadership to create an international black market of banned nuclear materials and technologies. Dr. Khan is also rumored to be involved in North Korea's and Iran's nuclear programs.
Russian security experts say Stephen Kappes was a top authority on WMD, but it was back when a Democrat sat in the White House. But Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Kappes' return signified the victory of bureaucrats in the CIA who resisted George Bush's reforms.
Gen. Hayden retorted to this that Kappes' return meant that the time of amateurs in the CIA was over.
This alarming statement means that the previous leaders of the CIA, an agency of exceptional significance for political and military decision-making, were amateurs and the fierce propaganda battle over Iran and its nuclear program was probably a result of political gambling by amateurish yes-men, who were quick to see what Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld wanted.
The overt anti-Russian campaign initiated with the assistance of American secret services before the St. Petersburg G8 summit also looks somewhat amateurish.
At the same time, the continued group fighting in the Republican establishment shows that the United States has lost many political guidelines, has a deficit of new ideas, and has to use the services of retirees.
Moscow probably has little to gain from the CIA reshuffle, in particular for the joint struggle against WMD proliferation. Kappes, who had known about Dr. Khan's black market machinations, nevertheless did nothing to stop him, in line with his government's policy of double standards. Washington closed its eyes to the creation of nuclear weapons by its strategic partner, Pakistan. But now it is threatening a war on its ex-strategic partner, Iran, for the same crime.
Gennady Yevstafyev is a retired Lieutenant General of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service and senior adviser with the Center for Policy Studies in Russia (PIR Center).
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and may not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.
