CIA Director Porter Goss resigned May 5. The move comes amid staff changes in the Bush administration and amid increasingly vocal tensions between the administration and the CIA.

Goss was appointed to head the CIA as part of an early attempt by U.S. President George W. Bush to rectify problems in the agency as criticism rose for U.S. involvement in Iraq based on faulty intelligence. However, Goss failed at reshaping the CIA and faced pushback from within the agency, where he was anything but popular.

With the war of words ratcheting up recently between the CIA and the administration over Iraq intelligence and information leaks, the removal of Goss appears to be a bid by White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten to help ease the rift between the administration and the agency. The criticism of National Intelligence Director John Negroponte in recent weeks, and the confrontation of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld by a former CIA analyst at a televised event all play into this ongoing public bout of one-upmanship. Bolten has already reshuffled personnel in the White House, and is now reaching out to the agencies and Cabinet.

Goss' replacement is likely to come from within the old guard of the CIA as part of Bolten's attempts to appease the agency. But the replacement is likely to be too little too late. The fury over Iraqi intelligence and CIA leaks has taken on a life of its own, and the administration's troubles are far from isolated to the rift with the agency. The flurry of attention around Goss' resignation is, to a great degree, just one more bit of Washington gas.

The main thing to watch now is to see whether there is a short list of successors put forward relatively quickly. If there is, then it will be clear that Goss was fired. If not, he resigned. Either way, there is plenty of sound and fury, but the ultimate impact will be minimal, though the Sunday talk shows now have plenty of fodder.