GovernmentExecutive.com

Would the last one out the door at the CIA please turn out the lights? First, Mike Scheuer, the former chief of the unit tracking Osama bin Laden, quits so he can criticize the agency even more vociferously. Then, AP reporter (and former GovExec intern) Katherine Pfleger Shrader reports this morning that John McLaughlin, a 32-year CIA veteran and deputy director of the agency, has opted to move on. And the Washington Post adds that new CIA chief Porter Goss and White House officials had to beg Deputy Director of Operations Stephen R. Kappes to spend the weekend reconsidering his decision to hit the road in disgust over the way that Goss and his handpicked team of advisers are running the agency. I realize Scheuer's resignation isn't really connected to the other departures, and McLaughlin's is being portrayed as just a natural move after a long career (and after he was passed over for the top job), but it's getting pretty clear that Goss is well on his way to setting some kind of political appointee record for alienating his agency's career staff.

Update: NY Times' David Brooks offers a dissenting view: CIA bureaucrats are out of control and must be put in their place by the Bush team. Updated update: Place-putting well underway: Kappes and his deputy, Michael Sulick, are also out the door.