McCurdy Ousted From Intelligence Panel : Congress: House Speaker Foley removes his sometimes-critic as chairman, citing length of service on the committee and a need for change.

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) has fired his sometimes-critic Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-Okla.) as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, the Speaker’s office and McCurdy disclosed Friday.

The 42-year-old McCurdy said that Foley informed him that he would not be reappointed to the post he has held for almost two years, even though chairmen are permitted to serve four-year terms.

McCurdy attributed the change to the Speaker’s “desire to place his own team on the committee.” A statement from Foley noted that McCurdy already had served nine years on the committee, longer than any other member, and said the time had come to make a change.

A spokesman said Foley would not name a replacement or select new members of the committee, which oversees the nation’s intelligence agencies, until Congress returns on Jan. 20.

The name most often mentioned to replace McCurdy is that of Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), a respected defense policy expert from Foley’s home state delegation.

With only three Democratic members returning, the Speaker will be able to appoint a new chairman and select nine new members to the panel.

A centrist Democrat with a driving ambition, McCurdy had attempted unsuccessfully to be appointed defense secretary or director of central intelligence by President-elect Bill Clinton.

As founding member of the Democratic Leadership Council, which Clinton once headed, McCurdy was considered to have an inside track for a top job in the new Administration.

He irked Foley last summer during the Democratic National Convention by openly criticizing the Speaker, who was under fire in the wake of the House bank and post office scandals. Some Democrats believed that McCurdy was angling for Foley’s job.

More recently, McCurdy annoyed Foley and other Democratic leaders by proposing a six-year term limit for committee chairmen as part of the party’s new rules package adopted by the House Democratic Caucus last month. McCurdy eventually withdrew the plan, saying he lacked enough votes to get it approved.

McCurdy, who had hoped to remain in the intelligence post, said he would seek the chairmanship of a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee. An Air Force reservist, he has tangled with the Pentagon and the CIA during his 12-year career in the House.

Foley issued a statement complimenting McCurdy’s performance as chairman, noting his “pioneering contributions in the reorganization of the intelligence community,” including a cutback in spending by the CIA and other spy agencies.

“Mr. McCurdy . . . served very credibly as chairman . . . when new and exacting demands were placed on U.S. intelligence, which was also a time when intelligence funding had to be reduced,” said a statement issued by Foley’s press secretary, Jeff Biggs.

“With his nine years of service, Mr. McCurdy already has served as a member of the committee longer than any member of the House,” the statement added.

McCurdy, a strong critic of liberal Democrats on foreign and defense policy issues, served two separate terms on the intelligence panel.