Bush Maintains Faith in CIA Chief, Aide Says

President Bush condemned as “outrageous” reports that he has lost confidence in CIA Director William H. Webster and that the agency’s leader may be replaced, a spokesman said today.

“President Bush has complete confidence in Director Webster,” White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said.

The Washington Post today reported White House disenchantment with Webster’s performance, particularly in light of the attempted coup earlier this month against Panama’s Gen. Manuel A. Noriega.

Fitzwater said he did not know whether Bush had personally spoken to Webster to reassure him. But the spokesman said Webster knew that the President was satisfied with his work.

The Post said senior Bush Administration officials are frustrated by Webster’s intelligence gathering and have begun to talk about possibly replacing him with someone who can advise the President more actively.

White House chief of staff John H. Sununu was quoted as saying, “He learned more about the attempted coup in Panama from watching Cable News Network than from Webster’s Central Intelligence Agency.”

The newspaper suggested former CIA official James Lilley, now U.S. ambassador to China, as a possible successor to Webster.

“The President has not been critical” of the CIA director, Fitzwater said. “I don’t think the President has ever suggested” that he was not doing a good job.

Fitzwater said that although Webster was out of the United States on Oct. 3 when the attempted coup took place in Panama City, he was “in constant contact with National Security Council officials.”