by Tom Ashbrook.

“It’s just one of those mysteries,” said Porter Goss, on his quick hustle out as head of the CIA. But not that mysterious. Almost five years after 9.11, with war in Iraq, and a nuclear threat in Iran, and threats, we’re told, all over, America’s intelligence operations can seem to still be in a shambles. And nowhere more so than at the CIA.

President Bush put Goss in charge less than two years ago. Morale plummeted. Veterans bailed out. Bush downgraded the whole agency. Now, Air Force general Michael Hayden is in line for the job. He’s a player, but one top Republican says: “wrong person, wrong place, wrong time.”

This hour On Point: upheaval at the CIA, and the state of American intelligence.

Guests:

Tim Burger, covers Intelligence and Terrorism for TIME magazine

Michael Isikoff, Investigative Correspondent for Newsweek magazine

Jack Devine, 32 year veteran of the CIA , currently President of The Arkin Group in New York City

Judith Yaphe, 20-year CIA analyst who specialized in the Middle East, currently fellow at the National Defense University in Washington

Charles Babington, covers Congress for The Washington Post