Steve Kappes, second-in-command at the CIA, is retiring. Kappes left the CIA once already, in 2004 after a spat with then-director Porter Goss. He returned in 2006 to much internal fanfare, and when President Obama asked him to stay on as Leon Panetta’s deputy (even though Kappes had in his official capacity supported and overseen everything from rendition to enhanced interrogation), it was viewed as a morale booster inside the agency.

As likely as not, Kappes’ retirement is a personal choice. But there have been some recent grumblings about his stewardship of covert operations, especially in Afghanistan.