Last week’s surprise resignation of Stephen Kappes as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency was at least partly due to disagreements over how to spy. Kappes is an experience clandestine service operator with particular expertise in operations directed against Middle Eastern and terrorist targets. He is regarded as a hard liner who endorsed many of the questionable interrogation and incarceration policies initiated by George Tenet, but he also supports maintaining the CIA’s traditional emphasis on classic espionage operations. Kappes favored using resources to build up cadres of agents inside Iran and other countries viewed as hostile that could both be a source of information and could ultimately influence developments.
Kappes had previously retired after disagreements with Director Porter Goss but was brought back into the agency to provide both experience and stability. He is being replaced by CIA senior analyst Mike Morell. Agency insiders believe the replacement of Kappes by an analyst is a reflection of the fact that the CIA no longer emphasizes agent handling, referred to as tradecraft, and has instead become a video-game-like targeting and killing machine that is an integral part of the so-called global war on terror. High tech shooting galleries do not require much in the way of traditional espionage skills, which are largely being lost at CIA as case officers who actually spent their time developing, recruiting, and running agents retire.
Philip Giraldi 
Adam Rurik 
Jim Dooley 
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Steve Hogan 
Regardless where you are on the political spectrum, Kappes departure is a blessing for everyone. His departure doesn’t mean any “tectonic shift” other than another marginal performer who was chosen, not because of any extraordinary accomplishment but rather as a counter to Porter Goss. Do you really believe for one minute that Kappes was the only guy who supported/supports HUMINT over other forms of intel? And that’s no great revelation. The agency specializes in HUMINT so naturally that’s what Kappes would support. Besides you are missing the most obvious point. Kappes was the number two man in the agency and arguably held more influence than Panetta who is a party hack. If Kappes wanted to change the direction of the agency he could have, with little opposition from Panetta or Obama for that matter You’re trying to somehow associate his departure with a failure of the administration to get more HUMINT on Iran. Open your eyes: Kappes was part of the problem in the same way that Panetta is, We’ll never have near the HUMINT capacity that Israel does because we lack the political, personal and national will to do the hard work that HUMINT requires to include getting into Iran. You forget that under Kappes’ watch, seven members of the CIA were killed in the largest number of CIA personnel killed on one day in the history of the CIA yet once again, like the events on 9/11, not one single government official was held accountable.