Goss the boss

W's choice as DCI, Porter Goss, has an interesting history, according to Daniel Hopsicker.

I'm amused -- but no more than amused -- to learn that Goss was a member of "Book & Snake," the second most influential secret society on the Yale campus. Conspiracy buffs of a certain stripe will no doubt salivate upon learning this news.

However, I'm quite intrigued to learn that Goss may well have appeared on the cover of Hopsicker's book "Barry and the Boys." The photograph, taken in 1963, depicts members of the CIA's "Operation 40" hit squad partying it up in Mexico City. Near Goss are such luminaries as the notorious drug smuggler Barry Seal, Felix Rodriguez (fingered by Kerry for his role in the contra effort), "Blond Ghost" Ted Shackley, Edwin Wilson (later convicted for helping Libya), Watergate's unbeloved Frank Sturgis, and William Seymour.

You probably haven't heard of Seymour, but he's one of the more interesting spooks of that period. Quite a few JFK researchers became convinced that Seymour pulled the trigger, or one of the triggers, in Dealey Plaza. (Seymour insisted that he was in Miami at the time of the assassination.) Other feel that there is evidence that Seymour posed as "Leon" Oswald at various dates and times before the hit.

Seymour, Sturgis, Rodriguez, Seal, Goss...that's one hell of a party!

It has been known for a while that the CIA recruited Goss out of Yale circa 1960. He seems to have immediately joined a very select group within the parapolitical elite. In short, he was heavily "spooked up" -- and then some -- from the very beginning. Wonder what he did as a youth to attract the attention of such a crowd? Jeez, it wasn't just the "Book and Snake" thing, was it?