CIA Names New Director of Analysts
John Kringen, head of the CIA's crime and narcotics center, will succeed Jami A. Miscik as deputy director for intelligence responsible for overseeing the agency's analytical work, according to an internal CIA announcement made yesterday.
CIA Director Porter J. Goss ousted Miscik last week. She indicated in an e-mail to her staff that she will leave in February.
Kringen will oversee analysts who provide assessments on international developments to senior policymakers in government. Among its products is the president's daily brief.
In addition to promoting Kringen, Goss intends to revive a directorate 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, intelligence officials said. In reopening the directorate of support, the agency would again have four directorates. The other three are responsible for operations, analysis, and science and technology.
A former senior CIA official described Kringen as a "sort of all-purpose infielder" who had a variety of assignments, including 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," a current intelligence official said. "It does everything from Southeast Asia and Afghanistan to Latin America."
Scientist Allowed to Publish Vioxx Data
The Food and Drug Administration gave a whistle-blower scientist permission to publish data indicating that as many as 139,000 people had heart attacks that may be linked to Vioxx, the scientist's lawyer said.
David Graham, who works in the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, has said he was not allowed to publish his data questioning the safety of Vioxx, a COX-2 inhibitor used mainly to treat arthritis pain. Citing its own safety concerns, manufacturer Merck & Co. voluntarily pulled Vioxx from the market in late September.
Graham testified in November before a Senate committee that the FDA fumbled in its handling of safety concerns about Vioxx and had mishandled concerns about five other widely used drugs. He contended that the FDA has an inherent conflict of interest that triggers "denial, rejection and heat" when safety questions emerge about products it has approved.
The FDA denies the allegations, and controversy over the agency's role continues.
But the question of publication of the Vioxx data appears to be settled. The FDA told Graham that he could publish his research, which shows that 88,000 to 139,000 people have had heart attacks that could be linked to Vioxx, with 30 percent to 40 percent of them fatal, said Graham's attorney, Tom Devine. He said the report will be resubmitted to the Lancet, a British medical journal.
Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project, said his client was "pleased and relieved."
-- Los Angeles Times and Associated Press
