CIA Expected to Name Head of Analytic Branch

The CIA is expected to tap one of its senior analysts to run the agency’s directorate of intelligence as part of a series of moves scheduled to be announced today by CIA Director Porter J. Goss, intelligence officials said Monday.

John Kringen, head of the CIA’s Crime and Narcotics Center, is poised to be named deputy director for intelligence, making him responsible for overseeing all of the analytical work done at the agency.

The apparent promotion for Kringen is part of an almost complete overhaul of the CIA’s senior ranks by Goss, a former Republican congressman from Florida who became director of the agency in September.

Kringen would replace Jami A. Miscik, who was ousted by Goss last week. In an e-mail to her staff, Miscik, who became deputy director for intelligence in 2002, indicated that she would step down next month.

The CIA is also expected to announce that it is reviving a directorate, shuttered about three years ago, that handled supplies and logistics for the agency’s overseas operatives as well as for the thousands of workers based at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.

In re-creating the so-called directorate of support -- formerly known as the directorate of administration -- the agency would return to a traditional alignment in which there were four directorates. The other three are responsible for operations, analysis, and science and technology.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment on pending personnel moves.

A former senior CIA official described Kringen as a “sort of all-purpose infielder” who had served in a variety of assignments, including stints doing analytical work on Latin America and the Middle East.

The Crime and Narcotics Center tracks illegal drug activity around the globe, which would put Kringen in position to develop expertise on an array of international fronts. The center “has a global focus and a complex series of responsibilities,” said a current intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It does everything from Southeast Asia and Afghanistan to Latin America.”

In the new job, Kringen would be placed in charge of a directorate responsible for providing assessments on international developments to senior policy makers in government. Among its most prestigious reports is the daily brief to the president.

The directorate has come under fierce criticism for the CIA’s prewar assessments that Iraq had stockpiles of banned chemical and biological weapons as well as an active nuclear weapons program.

A report last year by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence concluded that many of the agency’s assessments were not supported by the underlying intelligence available at the time. Officials said it was unclear what reforms Kringen might push.

“He doesn’t carry any real strong views or inclination on any particular subject,” the former intelligence official said. The CIA is also expected to name two deputies to Kringen today.

The former official applauded the apparent decision to restore the directorate of support saying that the decision to abolish it meant that analysts, as well as case officers stationed overseas, had to devote much more of their time to procuring basic supplies and handling other logistical issues.

The changes at the CIA come amid mounting speculation about whom President Bush will select as director of national intelligence, a newly created position that will oversee the activities of the CIA and the other 14 U.S. spy agencies.

Among those frequently mentioned as candidates for the job are John F. Lehman, a former secretary of the Navy and a member of the independent commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks, the former head of U.S. Central Command.

The announcements are the latest in a series of moves by Goss to shake up the leadership at the agency. Since Goss’ arrival, the deputy director of the CIA and the top two officials in the CIA’s clandestine service have retired or resigned.

Critics have said that Goss’ changes have hurt morale at the CIA and driven away some of its most talented people at a time when the CIA is struggling to stay abreast of developments in the war on terrorism and the insurgency in Iraq.

But supporters argue that the changes are overdue for an agency accused of intelligence failures before Sept. 11 and in the buildup to the war in Iraq.