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United States News Title: CIA brings back old hand to head clandestine unit WASHINGTON -- Three years after he quit the CIA in a high-profile clash with agency leaders, veteran spy Michael J. Sulick was brought back into the fold on Friday and put in charge of running the CIA's clandestine operations. In rehiring Sulick, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden is turning to a widely respected case officer, but one who spent the bulk of his overseas career in Cold War outposts. Sulick will take over the agency's main spying directorate at a time when it is faced with the challenges of absorbing hundreds of new hires made since the Sept. 11, 2001 , attacks while struggling to get better intelligence on the morphing terrorist threat and the insurgency in Iraq. Hayden's decision to tap Sulick also continues a course of seeking to undo personnel moves that took place during the tumultuous tenure of former CIA director Porter J. Goss. In a statement to the CIA work force on Friday, Hayden described Sulick as "a proven leader" who "knows that espionage demands constant change and adaptation." Sulick is to begin serving as director of the National Clandestine Service at the end of the month, a job that puts him in charge not only of the CIA's overseas spies, but also includes responsibility for monitoring the activities of other services -- including the Defense Intelligence Agency. Sulick will replace Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., who last month announced his plan to retire. Sulick will be reunited with Stephen Kappes , who also quit during the Goss regime but was brought back by Hayden to serve as deputy director, the agency's No. 2 post. Before their temporary retirements, Kappes and Sulick were the top two officials in the agency's directorate of operations, the division that deploys case officers around the world to gather intelligence on terrorist networks, foreign governments and other targets. But both men quit after a series of acrimonious exchanges with Goss and his senior staff, comprised mainly of former top aides on the House Intelligence Committee who had been sharply critical of the directorate of operations and had pledged an aggressive makeover. At the time, Goss supporters said he was trying to shake up an agency badly in need of reforms after the intelligence failures leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq. But the departures prompted fierce criticism of Goss, who was accused of driving off talented and respected officers over petty personnel disagreements. Kappes and Sulick left largely because they objected to the way one of their colleagues had been treated by a Goss aide. Goss was later pushed out as CIA chief, and replaced by Hayden. During his confirmation hearings, Hayden pledged to restore morale at the agency. Sulick, 59, served in the U.S. Marine Corps. during the Vietnam War and speaks Russian, Polish and Spanish. After more than a decade overseas, he held a number of high-level positions at CIA headquarters, including chief of counterintelligence. Hayden said Sulick's priorities would include developing "innovative operational platforms" and covers, meaning the elaborate false identities that CIA case officers use to disguise their intelligence gathering activities in other countries. The CIA is under pressure to move its officers out of U.S. embassies, where they pose as diplomats, and into commercial covers that might put them in better position to track terrorist groups and weapons proliferation networks.
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