WASHINGTON -- The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.

"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

Two top CIA officials have resigned amid reported disagreements with the new management of the US spying agency.
Deputy Director for operations Stephen Kappes and his assistant Michael Sulick were part of the CIA unit dealing with covert operations around the world.

The new CIA head Porter Goss said their departure would not affect the global fight against terrorism.

Mr Goss was appointed by President Bush in September to reform the agency after a series of intelligence failures.

The CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) was especially severely criticised for failures relating to the 11 September attacks in the US and also inaccurate reports on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD).