Sidelining the CIA

A new White House memo excludes CIA director Porter Goss from National Security Council meetings The biggest changes in Washington often come about with just a few strokes of the pen. And so a dry, one-page internal memo quietly issued by the White House is being viewed as a kind of eulogy for the once mighty Central Intelligence Agency. After nearly 60 years at the pinnacle of American intelligence—and at the elbow of Presidents—the CIA director is no longer automatically welcome at the President's National Security Council (NSC) meetings. John Negroponte, the new director of National Intelligence, has taken his chair.

[...]

Negroponte will participate in meetings of the NSC and its domestic counterpart, the Homeland Security Council (HSC). Meanwhile, CIA Director Porter Goss "will attend NSC and HSC meetings at the direction of the President.

  Time article

Well, Porter Goss was chosen in the first place because he wasn't going to be a strong CIA supporter. Now we get John Death Squad Negroponte to steer us well into the worst of the CIA tactics, but presumably under WH control.

And speaking of Central America, here's Condi at the OAS this weekend...

For our part, the United States is working with El Salvador to create in its country an International Law Enforcement Academy. This institute will train police officers from the entire hemisphere to better protect and serve their fellow citizens. We welcome the opportunity to work with Peru to expand the reach of that academy into South America.

  Miami Herald article

New School of the Americas outside the U.S. borders this time?

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.