WASHINGTON – The head of the CIA’s analysis unit is resigning next year, the latest top official to step down since Porter Goss became the agency’s director of central intelligence.

Jami Miscik, deputy director for intelligence, told her staff yesterday she will be resigning, an American official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official didn’t comment as to whether she resigned voluntarily or was asked to step down.

At least five other top agency officials have resigned since Mr. Goss, a former congressman who chaired the House Intelligence Committee, became director of central intelligence in September.

Mr. Goss has appointed his former House aides to top positions.

The changes have raised concerns among some lawmakers and others that Mr. Goss was purging intelligence professionals and replacing them with political appointees.

But Mr. Goss’s supporters say he is bringing needed changes to an agency that has been widely criticized for failing to prevent the September 11, 2001, terror attacks and for its faulty intelligence on Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs in Iraq.

Given the turnover at the agency, Ms. Miscik’s departure was largely expected.

Ms. Miscik joined the CIA in 1983 as an economic analyst working on Third World debt issues, according to her biography on the CIA Web page.

She was named deputy director in May 2002, making her responsible for CIA analysis and the preparation of the president’s daily intelligence briefing, a highly classified document.

The New York Times said Ms. Miscik, in a message to subordinates, described her resignation as part of a “natural evolution” and that every intelligence chief “has a desire to have his own team in place to implement his vision and to offer him counsel.” The newspaper first reported the resignation on its Web page last night in a story which said former intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said she was forced to resign.

The report on the Times Web site also said Ms. Miscik was quick to acknowledge the shortcomings of the CIA’s work on Iraq, and that she adopted new safeguards intended to prevent similar breakdowns in the future.

Reports indicated that Ms. Miscik planned to step down from her post on February 4, and that she had known earlier this month that Mr. Goss wanted to make a change in her department

Among the officials who have stepped down is John McLaughlin, who served as acting director of central intelligence following the resignation of George Tenet. Mr. McLaughlin retired, citing personal reasons.

In addition to the shake-up at the CIA, American intelligence operations are being overhauled as a result of a new law creating a national intelligence center and a powerful new position of national intelligence director to oversee 15 of America’s intelligence agencies.

As of yesterday, Mr. Goss had still yet to speak publicly since he became DCI in September.

The Times also reported that current and former intelligence officials said the resignation of Ms. Miscik signaled that Mr. Goss’s overhaul at Langley was being widened to include the analytical unit.