For most watchers of the CIA, the return of Steven Kappes to Langley as the agency's number 2 man is a welcome development. Fluent in Farsi and Russian, the 23-year veteran of the clandestine service can bring a renewed focus on the CIA's core intelligence-gathering mission. Unfortunately, Kappes' return almost certainly signals the resumption of Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra's partisan war on the CIA.
Hoekstra (R-MI), the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, was a strong supporter of Porter Goss, his former House colleague who resigned from the CIA in disgrace back in May. Hoekstra backed Goss' partisan purge during his brief tenure at the agency, which targeted leading officials who had second-guessed the Bush administration's uses - and misuses - of pre-Iraq war intelligence. Kappes was part of an exodus of senior CIA leadership fed up with Goss.
As it turns out, Hoekstra has had Kappes in his cross hairs for some time. Lost in the uproar over his May l8 letter to President Bush expressing concerns over oversight of the NSA domestic surveillance program was Hoekstra's vicious assault on Kappes. No fan of Bush's Air Force General Michael Hayden as Goss' successor, Hoekstra went on the war path against the proposed return of Kappes as Hayden's #2. Hoekstra told Bush:

"The choice for Deputy Director, Steven Kappes, is more troubling on both a substantive and personal level...Regrettably, the appointment of Mr. Kappes sends a clear signal that the days of collaborative reform between the White House and this committee may be over."

By "collaborative reform," Hoekstra of course means the politicization of the CIA and the agency's conversion into a partisan arm of the Bush White House and Republican leadership in Congress. That meaning is made clear by Hoekstra's vitriolic attack on the supposed partisanship of Kappes and his allies within the agency:

"I am heartened by the professional qualities he [Kappes] would bring to the job, but am concerned by what could be the political problems he could bring back to the agency. There has been much public and private speculation about the politicization of the Agency. I am convinced that this politicization was well underway before Porter Goss became the Director. In fact, I have long been concerned that a strong and well-positioned group within the Agency intentionally undermined the administration and its policies. This argument is supported by the Ambassador Wilson/Plame event, as well as by the string of unauthorized disclosures from an agency that prides itself with being able to keep secrets. I have to the belief that, despite his service to the DO, Kappes may have been part of this group. I must take note when my Democratic colleagues - those who so vehemently denounced and publicly attacked the strong choice of Porter Goss as Director - now publicly support Kappes' return."

Of course, most Democrats and many Republicans support Kappes' return due to his invaluable experience and unimpeachable integrity. As the Washington Post reported on May 9th, the President Bush advocated for Kappes not just to placate foes of NSA domestic spying architect Hayden as CIA chief or to allay the fears of those like Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) concerned about two military men heading the agency. More importantly, the White House saw Kappes as critical to the restoring the morale of the CIA after the devastating political purges of Porter Goss.
Despite Pete Hoekstra's protestations, Kappes has returned to the team at the CIA. But this surely isn't the last we'll be hearing from Hoekstra in his war on the CIA.